The Alchemist Newsletter: December 14, 2010

Microbial arsenic fail

Recently, NASA heralded the discovery of a bacteria in a toxic lake in California that uses arsenic instead of phosphorus in its DNA as a major breakthrough in finding clues for life on other planets. But, the science does not seem to stack up and in what might be termed the modern, open, social media successor of anonymous peer review, the evidence has been picked apart by countless experts and laid bare for others to see. The research published in Science follows up earlier research that revealed a bacteria that could metabolize arsenic, but takes the implications one step further and apparently shows that a bacteria can switch out P for As. The team is standing by its results in the face of ongoing criticism. There is, however, a strong possibility that there was sample contamination and given that the research did not have access to NMR spectroscopy to prove the presence of arsenic biomolecules, the self-appointed jury is unlikely to be persuaded in their favor.

Arsenic Bacteria Breed Backlash

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Not a waste

Researchers at the Newcastle University in England have calculated that just four liters of domestic waste water contains enough energy to illuminate a 100 Watt light bulb for five minutes. Given that the US treats up to 50 trillion liters of wastewater each year using about 1.5% of the nation's total electricity production, that's a lot of potential energy wasted. Liz Heidrich and co-workers painstakingly freeze dried water to leave behind a residue of organic volatiles account for up to 10 kilojoules per liter. This energy could be trapped by conversion to methane or hydrogen gas. Of course, finding an effective and highly energy-efficient method of tapping this resource is now needed, but at 10 kJ/l the incentive is there.

The Untapped Energy In Wastewater

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Pyrrole power

Japanese researcher Hiromitsu Maeda of Risumeikan University and his colleagues have turned to the well-known molecular motif of the pyrrole to construction a new class of structured materials. By combining planar pyrrole-containing negatively charged complexes with similarly planar, positively charged organic ions they can generate fibers and soft materials, such as supramolecular gels and liquid crystals based on organic salts. The team can design specific nanostructures by tweaking the side-groups on the organic ionic components of these systems.

Alternating stacks of planar cations and dipyrrole-containing anions provides concept for new materials

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ACS President

As of January 1, 2011, Bassam Shakhashiri of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be president elect of the American Chemical Society. His term of office will then begin January 1, 2012. On accepting his new role, Shakhashiri said, "It is through chemistry research and education that we can make major contributions to improve the quality of life in America and to advance the human condition around the globe." During his term as ACS President he hopes to assure support for research and education, promote green chemistry and public understanding of climate change, and to address employment issues and foster international cooperation in research and education.

University of Wisconsin chemistry professor named president-elect of world's largest scientific society

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