Softening crystals without heat: Using terahertz pulses to manipulate molecular networks
2010-11-10
(Press-News.org) Kyoto, Japan -- As if borrowing from a scene in a science fiction movie, researchers at Kyoto University have successfully developed a kind of tractor beam that can be used to manipulate the network of the molecules. In a paper soon to be published in Physical Review Letters, the team has demonstrated a technique using terahertz pulses that could have broad applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
Terahertz waves, an area of specialty for the Koichiro Tanaka lab at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), exist in a frequency range beyond the infrared and before the microwave band. Also popularly referred to as T-rays, this form of radiation can pass through many materials but is non-ionizing, characteristics which make the waves useful in the imaging field.
In this case, intense terahertz pulses were used to successfully increase the amplitude of movement between amino-acid molecules in crystalline form, essentially softening the crystals. Previous softening methods have always correspondingly raised the temperature, resulting in unwanted changes to the crystals' structure and properties.
"What we have demonstrated is that it is possible to use intense terahertz pulses to climb 20 ladder steps on the anharmonic intermolecular potential in the microcrystals," explains Dr. Masaya Nagai, an assistant professor at Kyoto University's Department of Physics and a coauthor of the paper. "This opens the door," he continues, "to the possibility of manipulating large molecules, thereby increasing understanding of the properties of molecular complexes such as proteins."
The team is expectant that the technique they have developed could eventually lead to advances in chemical synthesis as well as in the refining of organic molecular crystals for pharmaceutical purposes.
###
The article, "Ladder climbing on the anharmonic intermolecular potential in an amino acid microcrystal via an intense monocycle terahertz pulse" by Mukesh Jewariya, Masaya Nagai, and Koichiro Tanaka is scheduled to be published online on November 11, 2010 in Physical Review Letters.
About the iCeMS
The Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences at Kyoto University in Japan aims to advance the integration of cell and material sciences -- both of which are traditionally strong fields for the university -- by creating a uniquely innovative global research environment. The iCeMS seeks to integrate the biosciences, chemistry, material science, and physics to capture the potential power of cellular-level control of stem cells and functional architectures. Such manipulation holds the promise of significant advances in medicine, pharmaceutical studies, the environment, and industry.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-11-10
A recommendation letter could be the chute in a woman's career ladder, according to ongoing research at Rice University. The comprehensive study shows that qualities mentioned in recommendation letters for women differ sharply from those for men, and those differences may be costing women jobs and promotions in academia and medicine.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, Rice University professors Michelle Hebl and Randi Martin and graduate student Juan Madera, now an assistant professor at the University of Houston, reviewed 624 letters of recommendation for 194 ...
2010-11-10
Membrane-associated receptors, channels and transporters are among the most important drug targets for the pharmaceutical industry. The search for new drugs resembles looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore new analytical techniques are required which facilitate the simultaneous screening of a large library of compounds across a variety of membrane proteins. However, this class of methods is still at the early stages of development. The group of Prof. Dr. Robert Tampé, in collaboration with the Walter Schottky Institute at Technical University Munich, has now presented ...
2010-11-10
Quantum computers should be much easier to build than previously thought, because they can still work with a large number of faulty or even missing components, according to a study published today in Physical Review Letters. This surprising discovery brings scientists one step closer to designing and building real-life quantum computing systems – devices that could have enormous potential across a wide range of fields, from drug design, electronics, and even code-breaking.
Scientists have long been fascinated with building computers that work at a quantum level – so small ...
2010-11-10
VIDEO:
This is a computer model of the growth of a snapdragon flower, produced by the groups of Professor Andrew Bangham of the University of East Anglia and Professor Enrico Coen...
Click here for more information.
"How do hearts, wings or flowers get their shape?" asks Professor Enrico Coen from the John Innes Centre. " Unlike man-made things like mobile phones or cars, there is no external hand or machine guiding the formation of these biological structures; they ...
2010-11-10
This release is available in German.
Hormones, growth factors and several proteins ensure that development occurs in the right way, at the right time. The components that cause breast development in mammals, for example, were thought to be largely known. However, as a team of scientists from Göttingen, Frankfurt and Hanover have now discovered, in the case of breast development, hormones and proteins do not account for the full story. The scientists have shown that tiny ribonucleic acid molecules play a key role in this process. The mammary glands of mice lacking the ...
2010-11-10
Researchers suspect that a protein superstructure called amyloid beta is responsible for much of the neural damage of Alzheimer's disease.
A new study at the University of California, San Diego, shows that amyloid beta disrupts one of the brain's anti-oxidant proteins and demonstrates a way to protect that protein, and perhaps others, from amyloid's harmful effects.
"Amyloid seems to cause damage to cells," said chemistry professor Jerry Yang. "We have reported in a very detailed way one potential interaction of how amyloid can cause disease, and we found a way to ...
2010-11-10
VIDEO:
University of Chicago psychologist Susan Levine has found that early exposure to mathematics words prepares students for success later in school.
Click here for more information.
The amount of time parents spend talking about numbers has a much bigger impact on how young children learn mathematics than was previously known, researchers at the University of Chicago have found.
For example, children whose parents talked more about numbers were much more likely to ...
2010-11-10
Whales exhibit skin damage consistent with acute sunburn in humans, and it seems to be getting worse over time, reveals research published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Queen Mary, University of London and CICIMAR, studied blue whales, fin whales and sperm whales in the Gulf of California to determine the effect of rising levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on their health.
For a number of years scientists have observed blisters on the skin of whales. Now, using high-quality photos to give ...
2010-11-10
Swiss researchers studying the projected effects of climate change on alpine plant species have discovered that mountain ranges may represent a 'safer' place to live during changing climate conditions. The research, published in the Journal of Biogeography, finds that the habitat diversity of mountain ranges offer species 'refuge habitats' which may be important for conservation.
The research, led by Daniel Scherrer and Christian Körner from the University of Basel, Switzerland, was carried out over two seasons in the Swiss Central Alps at 2500m. The authors used a high ...
2010-11-10
KINGSTON, R.I. – November 9, 2010 – The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas. Now a team of engineering researchers from the University of Rhode Island is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes.
"We have mile after mile of asphalt pavement around the country, and in the summer it absorbs a great deal of heat, warming the roads up to ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Softening crystals without heat: Using terahertz pulses to manipulate molecular networks
