The simplistic beauty of a free radical

Korean scientists conduct experiments with highly reactive nitric oxide to form N-heterocyclic carbine nitric oxide radicals

2015-06-19

(Press-News.org) The study was conducted at the Center for Self-Assembly and Complexity within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea. Director Kimoon Kim and his team experimented with nitric oxide, a highly stable molecule of supreme importance in science. NO is highly reactive and a free radical, meaning a single, unpaired electron is present in its molecule. Put simply NO plays the role of a mediator between elements and helps them combine. Radicals are regularly generated in many metabolic pathways. Some of these radicals can exist in a free form and subsequently interact with various tissue components resulting in dysfunction. The potential role of free radicals in the pathology of several human diseases has resulted in extensive research. However, because free radical-mediated changes are pervasive and often poorly understood, the question of whether free radicals are a major cause of tissue injury and human disease remains unanswered Only a few organic compounds have been utilized to react with NO to form radical nitric oxide compounds and the development of such reactivity with NO using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) has not been reported to date. NHCs are not well known to react with or stabilize main group radicals and radical ions. Main group radicals, along with nitrogen, include carbon and oxygen. The Creation of NHCNOs N-heterocyclic carbine nitric oxide radicals were prepared for the first time by direct addition of nitric oxide to two readily available N-heterocyclic carbenes in solution phase. The compounds, stable in air and in water, were fully characterized using X-ray crystallography and by a technique called EPR which is used to study chemical species with unpaired electrons. A functioning group of molecules from the solid molecules obtained can be thermally transferred to another NHC, suggesting potential applications to NO delivery. A light orange solid was the result of the experiment. Although nitrous oxide was dominantly formed during chemical decomposition of the experiment, nitric oxide was also found to be thermally transferred to other N-heterocyclic carbenes. This suggests potential biological applications for NO delivery. Furthermore, this study adds another example of stable singlet carbenes acting as mimics for transition metal centers.

INFORMATION:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Researchers discover deep sea sharks are buoyant

2015-06-19

In a study published recently, scientists from the University of Hawai'i - Mānoa (UHM) and University of Tokyo revealed that two species of deep-sea sharks, six-gill and prickly sharks, are positively buoyant - they have to work harder to swim downward than up, and they can glide uphill for minutes at a time without using their tails. Conventional wisdom suggests that sharks are negatively, or occasionally neutrally, buoyant. Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons, which are lower in density than bone, and they generate buoyancy via their large, oil-filled liver. ...

X-ray imaging reveals secrets in battery materials

2015-06-19

In a new study, researchers explain why one particular cathode material works well at high voltages, while most other cathodes do not. The insights, published in the 19 June issue of the journal Science, could help battery developers design rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that operate at higher voltages. Researchers used a powerful X-ray imaging technique combined with new data analysis algorithms to gain insights -- at the nanoscale level -- on the mechanical properties of a cathode material called an LNMO spinel (composed of lithium, nickel, manganese and oxygen ...

Zebrafish provide a novel model to study short bowel syndrome

2015-06-19

Investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles are providing new hope for babies with short bowel syndrome (SBS) by developing a novel model of SBS in zebrafish, described in a paper published online on June 18 by the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. SBS is a highly morbid disease where the small intestine is either shortened or non-functional, leaving the patient with the inability to absorb enough nutrients from food. This results in profound malnutrition, dehydration, and can be fatal. Some patients increase their ability ...

Proposed floodplain restoration reduces flood risk and restores salmon habitat

2015-06-19

Salmon are severely impacted by the loss of floodplain habitats throughout the West Coast. In few places is this more pronounced than in Oregon's Tillamook Bay, where nearly 90 percent of estuaries' tidal wetlands have been lost to development -- threatening the survival of federally-protected coho salmon and the safety of the local community. Now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, NOAA Fisheries, and others have come together to reduce flood risk, increase resiliency of the ecosystem, and restore salmon habitat in Tillamook Bay by coordinating and aligning their ...

UCLA research offers more evidence for possible link between cocaine use and HIV infection

2015-06-19

New UCLA research offers further evidence that cocaine use disrupts the immune system, making people who use it more likely to become infected with HIV. In research published online June 18 in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, researchers with the UCLA AIDS Institute and Center for AIDS Research used an advanced form of humanized mice -- that is, immunodeficient mice engineered to have a human-like immune system -- to study the effects of cocaine. The findings suggest that using cocaine makes people significantly more susceptible to HIV infection. 'Substance ...

MARCO applauds fishery council move to protect deep sea corals

2015-06-19

VIRGINIA BEACH. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) applauds the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) on their recent approval of an amendment to protect deep sea corals from the impacts of fishing gear in the Mid-Atlantic. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the amendment will create "deep sea coral protection zones" in areas where corals have been observed or where they are likely to occur. In total, the areas proposed for designation encompass more than 38,000 square miles - an area nearly the size of Virginia. Established by the ...

Highly educated women stop smoking if the cost goes up

2015-06-19

Cigarette prices and images on cigarette packets have an impact on women in terms of continuing to smoke or quitting. In fact, less educated women are more responsive to pictorial labels on cigarette packets, as revealed by a study that has analysed, for the first time, the generation differences among female smokers, a group which, despite policy measures, has not stopped growing. In Spain, smoking levels are declining among men, but this trait does not extend to women. In the face of this phenomenon, experts claim that policy measures are needed to tackle such gender ...

EMBL scientists solve decades-old cell biology puzzle

2015-06-19

Clathrin proteins involved in endocytosis form a lattice that can dramatically change its shape Combination of fluorescence microscopy and 3D electron microscopy allows quantitative data to be analysed Results offer new understanding of role of clathrin in endocytosis Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg have solved a question that has puzzled cell biologists for decades - how does the protein machine that allows cells to swallow up molecules during endocytosis function? Endocytosis is the process by which cells engulf molecules and draw them inside the cell where they perform ...

Autism: The value of an integrated approach to diagnosis

2015-06-19

This news release is available in French. Researchers at Inserm (Inserm Unit 930 "Imaging and Brain") attached to François-Rabelais University and Tours Regional University Hospital have combined three clinical, neurophysiological and genetic approaches in order to better understand the brain mechanisms that cause autism. When tested on two families, this strategy enabled the researchers to identify specific gene combinations in autistic patients that distinguished them from patients with intellectual disabilities. This study, published in the journal Molecular ...

Two studies of Nepal-Himalaya tectonics lead new posting of Lithosphere papers

2015-06-19

Boulder, Colo., USA - J.E. Harvey and colleagues discuss the Main Himalayan Thrust, which is the plate-boundary fault underlying the Himalaya. They write, "Convergence along the fault drives uplift of the Himalaya and causes catastrophic earthquakes like the recent Gorkha earthquake in central Nepal." C. Nagy and colleagues use geologic field mapping and structural analysis in the upper Karnali Valley of northwestern Nepal to confirm the existence of a strike-slip dominated fault, oriented sub-parallel to the Himalayan mountain belt. These and other LITHOSPHERE papers ...

Insilico Medicine and Atossa Therapeutics publish AI-driven study in Nature's Scientific Reports identifying (Z)-endoxifen as a potential therapeutic candidate for glioblastoma

The simplistic beauty of a free radical

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: