The Alchemist Newsletter: October 27, 2010

Supporting platinum in catalytic efforts

Finding inexpensive and efficient ways to release hydrogen gas from water could open up promising routes to future fuels in the so-called "hydrogen economy". Just such a method has now been found that uses a monolayer of platinum atoms on a tungsten carbide support to catalyze the electrolytic production of hydrogen. To be truly sustainable the electricity supply for the reaction would have to be sourced from renewable, of course. Jingguang Chen and colleagues at the University of Delaware suggest that their approach reduces considerably the dependency on platinum by using an inexpensive support material without loss of efficacy. "Tungsten carbide is the ideal substrate for platinum," says Chen. "It is possible to use significantly smaller amounts of platinum, which reduces the cost - possibly not just for water electrolysis, but also in other platinum-catalyzed processes."

Saving Platinum

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Waste up in the air

Waste products from wood processing and pulp mills can be used to produce economically viable jet and diesel fuel, according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Non-food biomass composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin together with vegetable oils are normally unsuitable for fuel production. However, the team has used acid hydrolysis and xylose dehydrogenation, aldol condensation, low temperature hydrogenation, and high temperature hydrodeoxygenation to generate a mixture of heavier alkanes suitable for these fuels in high yields and low cost. The work is at the early stages of development but could ultimately be commercialized as pressure on fossil fuel reserves increases.

Making fuels from biomass waste

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Joint lubrication

One of the most aptly named glycoproteins ever, lubricin, has been discovered and its main function is to lubricate joints and so reduce wear on bone cartilage allowing us to be relatively flexible and free of wear and tear for much of our lives. The discovery by researchers in North Carolina could, however, have implications for finding new treatments for joint disease in which cartilage friction increases as lubrication is compromised. Until now, no other studies have directly assessed the effects of synovial fluid chemistry on protecting against wear.

Lubricin" Molecule Discovered to Reduce Cartilage Wear

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Kissing bug enzyme

The crystal structure of an enzyme common to Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus that causes pulmonary diseases in immuno-compromised people and the insect that carries Chagas disease, the kissing bug, of South America, could soon be determined thanks to an NIH grant of $1.5 million to chemist John Tanner of the University of Missouri. The enzyme, galactofuranose, makes a sugar molecule both organisms need to survive. Knowing the structure could lead to inhibitors that would kill the pathogens.

X-Ray Diffraction May Play Key Role in Stopping 'Kissing Bug,' Fungus

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