Category Archives: Chemistry

One of the key reasons defending champs Dortmund look a good bet to retain their crown is that they all seem to get along. It's a situation that Bayern Munich can only look upon with envy.

Perhaps what was most admirable about the seconds after Mainz scored a relatively late equalizer against Dortmund on Saturday was what didn't happen. Several players shared the blame for that goal, yet there was no finger pointing.

They simply went back on the attack, and eighty seconds later, they had reestablished their lead. Mainz's will was broken and the match ended 2-1.

Key to the game-winner was something else that didn't take place. Reserve attacking midfielder Ivan Perisic, no doubt very keen to make an impression, had advanced the ball up the right. Yet instead of trying to pull something difficult out of his hat, he simply stepped aside for Lukas Piszczek, who threaded a cross in for Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese midfielder duly blasted home.

"It's remarkable how much these players trust one another," said former German national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann who was commentating on the match for TV.

That moment showed how important interactions between players are in determining the outcome of tight matches. It also illustrated that, their obvious skill and fitness notwithstanding, chemistry is one of the major reasons Dortmund have put seven points between themselves and second-placed Bayern.

Well-loved boss

There was a reunion between Zidan, Klopp and the Dortmund mascot

The lion's share of the credit for the unusual harmony has to go coach Jrgen Klopp. The feelings of identification with the club even extend to players who no longer ply their trade in Dortmund.

Conspicuous was the fact that Mainz's Mohamed Zidan, who played for Dortmund until this winter, refused to celebrate the goal that temporarily knotted the score. Normally strikers are especially jubilant when they perform against clubs where they failed to make their mark. The Egyptian seemed more concerned with expressing respect for Klopp, who used to coach Mainz and is considered Zidan's mentor.

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Better chemistry has propelled Dortmund ahead of Bayern

Public release date: 4-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Carolyn Fong carolyn@nus.edu.sg 65-651-65399 National University of Singapore

Researchers from Singapore, Japan, the UK and USA have discovered how soil bacteria carry out surprising chemistry, defying a longstanding set of chemical rules and thus paving the way for new synthesis of polyether drugs.

Principal investigator, Chu-Young Kim, Assistant Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science, and his group have made use of powerful X-rays to decipher how antibiotic-producing bacteria defy a longstanding set of chemical rules.

Their result, reported today in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature10865), details how a soil bacterium, Streptomyces lasaliensis, is able to convert an epoxide into a six-membered cyclic ether during synthesis of lasalocid, a natural polyether antibiotic. The fact that bacteria can perform such chemistry has puzzled chemists and biologists for decades because this type of chemical transformation is known to be kinetically unfavorable.

According to "Baldwin's Rules for Ring Closure," which govern the way these rings form, lasalocid should contain a five-membered ring instead of the observed six-membered ring.

"Our study has broad implications because the six-membered cyclic ether is a common structural feature found in hundreds of drug molecules produced by nature," said Dr Kim. "We have analysed the genes of six other organisms that produce similar polyether drugs and we are now confident that the biosynthetic strategy we have uncovered is also used by these organisms."

The solution to the molecular mystery depended in large part on a deeper understanding of the unique enzyme Lsd19 that catalyses the formation of two cyclic ether moieties that is part of the lasalocid structure. To determine the protein's atomic structure, researchers hit frozen crystals of Lsd19 with X-rays at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and analysed how the crystals diffracted the X-rays. "You need atomic-level detail of the protein's structure to understand what's really happening," said co-author Irimpan Mathews, a staff scientist at SLAC.

Lessons from the bugs

"The bugs have taught us a valuable chemistry lesson," Dr Kim said.

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X-rays reveal how soil bacteria carry out surprising chemistry

In the March podcast, Laura takes the team somewhere over a graphene rainbow so Phillip can get a brain to explain carbon-carbon quadruple bonds (with minimal use of the word ‘quantum’), and Andy finds the courage to tear open the toughest material ever made and expose its beating science heart. Plus, there’s new fingerprinting methods with Paul Kelly and super-sensitive techniques for detecting and identifying metal species with Norbert Jakubowsky.

                  

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http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2

I think we’ve all had a bellyful of this week’s compound. In fact, we’d be in trouble if we hadn’t. Brian Clegg digests hydrochloric acid in this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast.

                  

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Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko (Photo Credit: Getty Images, By: David Banks)

By David Schuster-

MESA, Ariz. (CBS) Chemistry and camaraderie are extremely important to winning in baseball, if you believe most players.

Heres a sample from both ends of town on the subject.

Ive mentioned for a long time its ultra-important in baseball, and especially so at Wrigley Field said Cubs pitcher, Jeff Samardzija. Its a small clubhouse and were right on top of each other and you need to have a close team and need to understand each other. There are going to be some run ins, but as long as you have that foundation and have everybody pulling for each other, you can brush those things aside and move on.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, White Sox pitcher John Danks couldnt agree more.

You have to like coming to the ball park, so I think its critical, he said. You have to enjoy coming to work and if you dont like your teammate or have a problem with some guys, youre not going to enjoy it. Fortunately, we have a great group of guys and everyone gets along.

Danks knows if ever there is a problem, then the team captain Paul Konerko will intervene.

Paulie is a guy we lean on, Danks said. Hes the captain for a reason. He goes about it the right way and has the respect of everybody.

Gordon Beckham has only been in the majors for a short period of time, but he also knows the value of having a tight clubhouse.

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Schuster: Team Chemistry Vital To Success

Editor's Note: This article was completed as an assignment for a class in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The noise of talking in the crowded classroom gradually subsided as Lou Wojcinski, K-State assistant teaching scholar of chemistry, displayed the following question through the class projection system:

"Do you think most scientists agree with one another about whether or not global warming is happening, or do you think there is a lot of disagreement among scientists on the issue?"

Wojcinski then instructed the students to answer the question with their I-clickers; 70 percent of the class responded that there is significant disagreement among scientists, whereas only 30 percent said that the issue is settled.

As the political global warming debate surges, this poll raises the question of whether or not scientists agree on the issue.

Wojcinski said roughly 90 percent of scientists agree that global warming is occurring.

"Projections about the future are much harder to do; I would say there is less agreement there," Wojcinski said.

Wojcinski said there are a variety of factors that contribute to global warming.

"There is a human contribution to increased temperatures," he said. "I think it is important to say that it is not just a human contribution. There are natural contributions to the temperatures that we have, and I think that what some people think when they hear that it's a human-caused problem they think it's just a human-caused problem, which sounds a little silly. I think part of the hesitancy in accepting the science comes from people interpreting it as solely a human problem."

Besides disagreeing about what scientists think, students at K-State also have differing views about what global warming is and its implications for the future.

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Chemistry teacher, students examine causes, effects of global warming