Scientists develop new concepts about the shape and dynamic nature of molecules

Embargoed until 1600 GMT on Monday 13 March 2023

2023-03-13

(Press-News.org) -With pictures-

Scientists have demonstrated in a new study that carbon-based molecules can be much more dynamic than previously thought.

When a carbon atom forms four bonds to different groups, the molecule can exist in two mirror image forms. These mirror image forms are vital in medicine because they have different biological activities.

Usually, it is impossible to interconvert between these ‘enantiomers’ because to do so would require a bond to be broken, a process that needs too much energy.

The researchers from Durham University and the University of York demonstrated that if the chiral centre was part of a dynamic molecular cage structure, then a simple rearrangement of the cage could lead to inversion of the mirror image form of the molecule.

In this way, carbon-based stereochemistry, which is normally considered to be fixed and rigid, became dynamic, fluxional and responsive – a new paradigm in carbon-centred chirality.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

The molecular cage has nine carbons atoms in its structure, which are held together by a pair of carbon–carbon double bonds and a three-membered cyclopropane ring. This combination of bonds allows some of the bonds in the structure to trade places with one another spontaneously.

Project lead investigator, Dr Aisha Bismillah of Durham University, said: “Our dynamic carbon cages change their shape extremely quickly. They hop back and forth between their mirror image structures millions of times a second. Seeing them adapt to match changes in their environment is truly remarkable.”

Further to uncovering this unique dynamic form of stereochemical interconversion, the researchers demonstrated that the preferences of the cage could be transmitted to nearby metal centres, opening the possibility that this type of responsive chirality might find uses in catalysis, and the synthesis of chiral molecules for biomedical applications.

Reflecting on the way in which these results overturn established ideas, Dr Paul McGonigal of University of York, said: “The way our dynamic carbon cage interacts with other molecules and ions is fascinating. The cage adapts, giving the mirror-image structure with the ‘best fit’.

“We hope, in due course that this intriguing bonding concept will be found to apply in other contexts, and potentially used to underpin new applications for more dynamic molecular materials.”

The research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Leverhulme Trust.

ENDS

Media Information

Dr Paul McGonigal from University of York/Durham University is available for interview and can be contacted on paul.mcgonigal@york.ac.uk.

Alternatively, please contact Durham University Communications Office for interview requests on communications.team@durham.ac.uk.

Pictures

Associated images and videos are available via the following link: https://bit.ly/mirror-image-molecule

Source Information

“Control of dynamic sp3-C stereochemistry”, (2023), Aisha N. Bismillah, Toby G. Johnson, Burhan A. Hussein, Andrew T. Turley, Promeet K. Saha, Ho Chi Wong, Juan A. Anguilar, Dmitry S. Yufit & Paul R. McGonigal, Nature Chemistry. www.doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01156-7

An embargoed copy of the paper is available from Durham University Communications Office. Please email communications.team@durham.ac.uk.

About Durham University

Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.

We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.

We conduct boundary-breaking research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2023).

We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).

For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/

END OF MEDIA RELEASE – issued by Durham University Communications Office

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Minke whales are as small as a lunge-feeding baleen whale can be

2023-03-13

A new study of Antarctic minke whales reveals a minimum size limit for whales employing the highly efficient “lunge-feeding” strategy that enabled the blue whale to become the largest animal on Earth. Lunge feeding whales accelerate toward a patch of prey, engulf a huge volume of water, and then filter out the prey through the baleen plates in their mouths. This strategy is used by the largest group of baleen whales, known as rorquals, which includes blue, fin, humpback, and minke whales. The ability ...

UK scientists discover a new way to help prevent breast cancer ‘time bomb’

2023-03-13

Scientists have discovered why breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs may ‘wake up’ following years of sleep - forming incurable secondary tumours. Their research, funded by Breast Cancer Now, reveals the mechanism that triggers this breast cancer 'time bomb' – and suggests a strategy to defuse it. Patients with oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer – the most common type – have a continued risk of their cancer recurring in another part of their body for many years or even decades after their original ...

The right cocktail of gut enzymes can stop c. diff in its tracks

2023-03-13

Not all probiotics are created equal. In a new study, researchers found that certain enzymes within a class known as bile salt hydrolases (BSHs) can restrict Clostridioides difficile (C. diff.) colonization by both altering existing bile acids and by creating a new class of bile acids within the gut's microbial environment. The work could lead to “designer” probiotics that protect against disease by introducing specific BSHs to the gut after antibiotic treatment. Selecting the right suite of BSH-producing bacteria is critical, because the study found that interactions between BSHs and bile acids ...

Researchers identify novel genes that may increase risk for schizophrenia

2023-03-13

New York, NY (March 13, 2023) – Researchers have identified two previously unknown genes linked to schizophrenia and newly implicated a third gene as carrying risk for both schizophrenia and autism. Led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the multi-center study further demonstrated that the schizophrenia risk conferred by these rare damaging variants is conserved across ethnicities. The study may also point to new therapeutics. The findings were published in the March 13 online issue of Nature ...

Changing landscapes alter disease-scapes: Study

2023-03-13

A new study has highlighted how and when changes to the environment result in animal-borne disease thresholds being breeched, allowing for a better understanding and increased capacity to predict the risk of transmissions. For the first time, researchers from Griffith University, Stanford University and the University of California used cumulative pressure mapping and machine learning to better understand how six vector-borne diseases (those transmitted by biting insects) found in different environments responded to the effects of human pressures. Published in Nature Sustainability, the research found diseases associated with ...

New AI model transforms understanding of metal-organic frameworks

2023-03-13

How does an iPhone predict the next word you’re going to type in your messages? The technology behind this, and also at the core of many AI applications, is called a transformer; a deep-learning algorithm that detects patterns in datasets. Now, researchers at EPFL and KAIST have created a transformer for Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a class of porous crystalline materials. By combining organic linkers with metal nodes, chemists can synthesize millions of different materials with potential applications in energy storage and gas separation. The “MOFtransformer” is designed to be the ChatGPT for researchers that study MOFs. It’s architecture is based ...

Magnetism fosters unusual electronic order in quantum material

2023-03-13

HOUSTON – (March 13, 2023) – Physicists were surprised by the 2022 discovery that electrons in magnetic iron-germanium crystals could spontaneously and collectively organize their charges into a pattern featuring a standing wave. Magnetism also arises from the collective self-organization of electron spins into ordered patterns, and those patterns rarely coexist with the patterns that produce the standing wave of electrons physicists call a charge density wave. In a study published this week in Nature Physics, Rice University physicists Ming Yi and Pengcheng Dai, and many of their collaborators from the 2022 ...

Beheshti conducting tribological study of propulsion shaft materials subjected to advanced surface strengthening treatments

2023-03-13

Ali Beheshti, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, received funding for the project: "Surface Integrity and Tribological Study of Propulsion Shaft Materials Subjected to Advanced Surface Strengthening Treatments." In this project, Beheshti and his team are conducting detailed analyses of IN625, a nickel-based superalloy, and Ni-Cu, alloys of copper and nickel, subjected to an advanced laser peening (LP) process. The process uses very high-speed laser generated shock waves applied to the material and results in significant mechanical strength. Specifically, they are studying unpeened, ...

Gut microbiome plays key role in response to CAR-T cell cancer immunotherapy

2023-03-13

Scientists from German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), together with colleagues from Germany, Israel, and the USA, have found that the gut microbiome may modulate the efficacy of CAR-T cellular immunotherpy CAR-T cells in patients with B cell lymphomas. Individualized microbiome information retreaved from patients‘ gut microbiomes prior to initiation of CAR T therapy could accurately predict their subsequent responsiveness to therapy, but only in the condition that these patients were not pre-treated with broad spectrum ...

IPK researcher use TurboID to uncover new meiotic proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana

2023-03-13

During meiosis, reshuffling of genetic information between homologous chromosomes through meiotic recombination creates variable gametes and hence genetic variation in offsprings. Meiotic recombination occurs in the context of the meiotic chromosome axis, a proteinaceous structure along which sister chromatids are arranged in a loop base array during prophase I. Data across organisms suggests meiotic chromosome axis serving as a scaffold for meiotic recombination. In the model plant A. thaliana, the axis associated proteins ASY1 and ASY3 are critical for synapsis and meiotic recombination. “Due to the key role of axis proteins such as ...

Korea University College of Medicine successfully concludes the 2025 Lee Jong-Wook Fellowship on Infectious Disease Specialists Program

Girls are happiest at school – for good reasons

Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine discover genetic ancestry is a critical component of assessing head and neck cancerous tumors

Heart damage is common after an operation and often goes unnoticed, but patients who see a cardiologist may be less likely to die or suffer heart disease as a result

Scientists develop new concepts about the shape and dynamic nature of molecules

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: