PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Scientists capture elusive chemical reaction using enhanced X-ray method

Chemical reactions often involve intermediate steps that are too fast and complex for us to see – even using our most advanced scientific instruments. Combining two X-ray spectroscopy techniques has now been shown to change that.

2023-05-05
(Press-News.org) Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory captured one of the fastest movements of a molecule called ferricyanide for the first time by combining two ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy techniques. They think their approach could help map more complex chemical reactions like oxygen transportation in blood cells or hydrogen production using artificial photosynthesis.

The research team from SLAC, Stanford and other institutions started with what is now a fairly standard technique: They zapped a mixture of ferricyanide and water with an ultraviolet laser and bright X-rays generated by the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser. The ultraviolet light kicked the molecule into an excited state while the X-rays probed the sample’s atoms, revealing features of ferricyanide's atomic and electronic structure and motion.

What was different this time is how the researchers extracted information from the X-ray data. Instead of studying only one spectroscopic region, known as the Kβ main emission line, the team captured and analyzed a second emission region, called valence-to-core, which has been significantly more challenging to measure on ultrafast timescales. Combining information from both regions enabled the team to obtain a detailed picture of the ferricyanide molecule as it evolved into a key transitional state.

The team showed that ferricyanide enters an intermediate, excited state for about 0.3 picoseconds – or less than a trillionth of a second – after being hit with a UV laser. The valence-to-core readings then revealed that following this short-lived, excited period, ferricyanide loses one of its molecular cyanide “arms,” called a ligand. Ferricyanide then either fills this missing joint with the same carbon-based ligand or, less likely, a water molecule.

“This ligand exchange is a basic chemical reaction that was thought to occur in ferricyanide, but there was no direct experimental evidence of the individual steps in this process,” SLAC scientist and first author Marco Reinhard said. “With only a Kβ main emission line analysis approach, we wouldn’t really be able to see what the molecule looks like when it is changing from one state to the next; we’d only obtain a clear picture of the beginning of the process.”

“You want to be able to replicate what nature does to improve technology and increase our foundational scientific knowledge,” SLAC senior scientist Dimosthenis Sokaras said. “And in order to better replicate natural processes, you have to know all of the steps, from the most obvious to those that happen in the dark, so to speak.”

In the future, the research team wants to study more complex molecules, such as hemeproteins, which transport and store oxygen in red blood cells – but which can be tricky to study because scientists do not understand all the intermediate steps of their reactions, Sokaras said.

The research team refined their X-ray spectroscopy technique at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) and the LCLS over many years, and then combined all this expertise at the LCLS’s X-ray Correlation Spectroscopy (XCS) instrument to capture the molecular structural changes of ferricyanide. The team published their results today in Nature Communications.

“We leveraged both SSRL and LCLS to complete the experiment. We couldn’t have finished developing our method without access to both facilities and our longstanding collaboration together,” said Roberto Alonso-Mori, SLAC lead scientist. “For years, we have been developing these methods at these two X-ray sources, and now we plan to use them to uncover previously inaccessible secrets of chemical reactions.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Providing legal counsel at initial bail hearings lowers incarceration rates

2023-05-05
Providing defendants with legal counsel during their initial bail hearing decreases use of monetary bail and pretrial detention, without increasing the likelihood that defendants fail to appear at the subsequent preliminary hearing, according to a new RAND Corporation study.   Researchers found that having legal counsel at bail hearings increased the probability of being released without monetary bail by 21% and reduced the probability that an individual was in jail three days after their bail hearing by 10%.   The analysis, based on a field experiment in Pittsburgh where public defenders were assigned to a limited number of initial bail hearings, is ...

Yale study reveals insights into post-vaccine heart inflammation cases

2023-05-05
New Haven, Conn. — When new COVID-19 vaccines were first administered two years ago, public health officials found an increase in cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, particularly among young males who had been vaccinated with mRNA vaccines. It was unclear, however, what exactly was causing this reaction. In a new study, Yale scientists have identified the immune signature of these heart inflammation cases. These findings, published May 5 in the journal Science Immunology, rule out some of the theorized causes of the heart inflammation and suggest potential ways to further ...

nTIDE April 2023 Jobs Report: Despite sharp decline, employment remains above pre-pandemic levels for people with disabilities

nTIDE April 2023 Jobs Report: Despite sharp decline, employment remains above pre-pandemic levels for people with disabilities
2023-05-05
East Hanover, NJ – May 5, 2023 –Declines in the April job numbers for people with disabilities raise concerns about the future of the job market, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). To assess whether this change signals a slowing of job gains for people with disabilities, nTIDE experts will look closely at the direction of next month’s employment indicators.                                                                                                                        Month-to-Month ...

Systemic AL amyloidosis: Current approach and future direction

Systemic AL amyloidosis: Current approach and future direction
2023-05-05
“AL amyloidosis is a fatal disease and systemic therapy is required to prevent deposition of amyloid in other organs and prevent progressive organ failure.” BUFFALO, NY- May 5, 2023 – A new review paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on April 26, 2023, entitled, “Systemic AL amyloidosis: current approach and future direction.” In this review, researchers Maroun Bou Zerdan, Lewis Nasr, Farhan Khalid, Sabine Allam, Youssef Bouferraa, Saba Batool, Muhammad Tayyeb, Shubham Adroja, Mahinbanu Mammadii, Faiz Anwer, Shahzad Raza, and Chakra P. Chaulagain from SUNY Upstate Medical University, University of Texas MD Anderson ...

Boston Children’s Hospital to help lead research in NSF AI Institute for Societal Decision Making

2023-05-05
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can drive cars, monitor and adjust the temperature in your home, and chat with you online. AI could help public health officials, community workers, and clinics efficiently direct and allocate resources and better target interventions to improve health outcomes during disasters and public health emergencies.  “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need for new approaches to resource allocation during public health crises—approaches that simultaneously serve our society’s most vulnerable communities, improve our overall health and well-being, and maximize impact,” ...

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers unlimited opportunities for emergency physicians

2023-05-05
Des Plaines, IL — There are unlimited opportunities for career growth in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system and this option should be recognized by medical students considering emergency medicine as a potential career, and by emergency medicine residents as well. This is the message of a perspective piece titled, The hidden jewel of emergency medicine careers: Why it's time to explore the VA. The piece introduces the April 2023 special issue of Academic ...

Dr. Evanthia Galanis elected Alliance Group Chair-Elect

Dr. Evanthia Galanis elected Alliance Group Chair-Elect
2023-05-05
  The Alliance Board of Directors has elected Evanthia Galanis, MD, as Group Chair-Elect of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology at the 2023 Alliance Spring Virtual Group Meeting on May 5. Dr. Galanis will take office in November 2023 and will serve a six-year term.“I’m honored to be elected to serve as Group Chair of the Alliance,” Dr. Galanis said. “I am excited to lead an organization whose mission is to reduce the impact of cancer by uniting a broad community of scientists and clinicians who are committed to the prevention and treatment ...

New findings suggest increased monitoring needed to prevent lung disease in underground coal miners

2023-05-05
DENVER — (MAY 5, 2023) For the past two decades, there has been a major resurgence in progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), (also known as black lung) among coal miners, leading researchers from National Jewish Health and across the country to examine what job duties might be putting them at risk. Current federal regulations require routine monitoring of dust levels in specific “high risk” jobs in underground coal mines, mainly jobs near the coal seam where coal is mined from surrounding rock. During the study, crystalline silica, a component of coal mine dust, was found in the lungs of coal miners whose jobs had not been targeted for exposure monitoring based on current ...

Case report: former football player’s cognitive symptoms improved after study revealed alternative diagnosis and treatment

2023-05-05
Football players who have had repetitive head trauma and concussion are at heightened risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), an irreversible condition that leads to dementia. But not every case of cognitive decline means CTE, as illustrated by a new case study published by researchers from Mass General Brigham in Current Sports Medicine Reports. In the publication, Adam Tenforde, MD, a physician in Mass General Brigham’s Sports medicine program and medical director of the Spaulding National Running Center, co-authored a study that described the case ...

UCF scientist uncovers roots of antibiotic resistance

2023-05-05
By Suhtling Wong | May 1, 2023 11:19 am Bacteria naturally adapt to various environmental stimuli and as they mutate, these changes can make them resistant to drugs that would kill or slow their growth. In a recent article published in PLoS Genetics, UCF College of Medicine microbiologist Dr. Salvador Almagro-Moreno uncovers the evolutionary origins of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria. His studies on the bacterium that causes ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies releases white paper on mentoring programs to strengthen worker autonomy and competitive edge

International scientists issue State of the Climate Report, highlight mitigation strategies

“State of the climate” 2025: Earth’s vital signs worsen, science shows options for livable future

New nanomedicine wipes out leukemia in animal study

National TRAP Program targets ghostly issue with second round of coastal clean up funding

Six scientists receive AFAR grants for junior faculty

Climate report: Earth on dangerous path but rapid action can avert the worst outcomes

American Pediatric Society announces Bruce D. Gelb, MD, as recipient of its prestigious 2026 APS John Howland Award

Friendships can ease loneliness for dementia caregivers

Researchers pose five guiding questions to improve the use of artificial intelligence in physicians’ clinical decision-making

Global call to “Help the Kelp” with US $14 billion conservation target

Artificial tongue uses milk to determine heat level in spicy foods

IU Kelley Futurecast: AI and energy infrastructure may buoy US economy in 2026

The biggest threats to maintaining fat bike trails: climate change and volunteer burnout

AI models for drug design fail in physics

Practice pattern of aerosol drug therapy in acute respiratory distress syndrome patients: An aero-in-ICU study

GLIS model as a predictor of outcomes in older adults with heart failure

Molecules in motion: pioneering the era of supramolecular robotics

Faster and more reliable crystal structure prediction of organic molecules

Thankful at work: A two-week gratitude journal boosts employee engagement

Fibroblasts: Hidden drivers of heart failure progression

IOCB Prague unveils a fundamentally faster, more affordable way to produce quantum nanodiamonds

Artificial intelligence takes the lead in revolutionizing cancer research explored at NFCR’s 2025 Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research and Entrepreneurship.

Switching memories on and off with epigenetics

This is your brain without sleep

3D DNA looping discovery in rice paves the way for higher yields with less fertilizer

Four subgroups of PCOS open up for individualized treatment

Perovskites reveal ultrafast quantum light in new study

New clues on how physical forces spread in neurons

Heart ‘blueprint’ reveals origins of defects and insights into fetal development

[Press-News.org] Scientists capture elusive chemical reaction using enhanced X-ray method
Chemical reactions often involve intermediate steps that are too fast and complex for us to see – even using our most advanced scientific instruments. Combining two X-ray spectroscopy techniques has now been shown to change that.