The Alchemist Newsletter: July 14, 2010

Shrinking protons

If the electron is the currency of chemistry, then the proton is perhaps its bank deposit box and like banking in the real world there is news that can rock their foundations. Randolf Pohl and his colleagues at the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft have been harboring just such news for several years and recently confirmed their findings regarding the size of the proton. Using muonic (as opposed to electronic) hydrogen, the team measured the charge radius of the proton with an accuracy of better than one thousandth of a femtometer. Their measurements show that the hydrogen nucleus measures 0.8418 fm. This result is beyond the margin of error on previous measurements by a factor of five. Imagine the state of international finances if banks were to see accounting errors on a similar scale. The discovery has implications for spectroscopy and the Rydberg constant, the rock on which other fundamental constants are built.

The proton - smaller than thought

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Celery may be nutritionally useful, after all

The phytochemical luteolin is found in celery, thyme, green peppers, and chamomile tea, and may have a role to play in modulating the inflammatory response in our bodies. However, little was known about a possible mechanism for this health benefit, which might even reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and insulin resistance in some people. Now, Daniel Hwang of the Agricultural Research Service and colleagues have shown that luteolin and several other phytochemicals, quercetin, chrysin, eriodicytol, hesperetin, and naringenin, do have anti-inflammatory effects and the mechanism involves targeting the enzyme TBK1.

Luteolin Stars in Study of Healthful Plant Compounds

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Remote analysis

Terahertz technology offers the possibility of characterizing materials from a distance of up to 20 meters so allowing security staff at airports and other potentially vulnerable locations to identify explosives, chemical weapons, and even biological weapons without approaching suspicious items or people. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have developed a new all-optical system and report details in Nature Photonics this month. The technique employs two lasers focused in the air to create a plasma that interacts with terahertz waves from an object of interest. The resulting plasma fluorescence "fingerprint" is then compared to library spectra for identification.

A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Terahertz Remote Sensing

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Pyrolysis-mania

Chemistry graduate students at Iowa State University in Ames, with expertise in pyrolysis, have been encouraged by their professor to start a new company developing alternative fuels. The company, Avello Bioenergy Inc, is based at Iowa State's BioCentury Research Farm just west of Ames. The company is developing technology for fast pyrolysis, which rapidly heats biomass without oxygen to produce liquid "bio-oil" as a fuel and chemical feedstock, as well as bio-char, which effectively sequesters carbon dioxide and can be used as a soil improver.

Students Take Their Professor’s Advice and Start an Ames Bioenergy Company

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