Careers  

A chemistry degree can lead to a number of careers that will can help people in many different industries. Career opportunities exist in education and teaching to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and the medical laboratory to name just a few.

There are several factors to consider if you think you may enjoy pursuing a degree in chemistry. Many types of employment are available such as working in medical, industrial or pharmaceutical laboratories. Research in these types of environments offer many benefits as do jobs teaching chemistry in high schools or universities. Here are four signs you would be perfect for a chemistry degree:

Following Steps

You love baking, cooking and following recipes. Chemistry is very detail oriented and the ability to follow a set of instructions is essential. Cooking is essentially manipulation of the chemicals in various foods and their ingredients: how ingredients work together and the order in which they are mixed and how different volumes of ingredients affect flavor and texture.

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Written Communication

While working in a chemistry lab in any type of industry, it is essential to have good note taking skills. Accuracy and timing and the recording of data is often dependent on how good the individual responsible is at keeping helpful and significant notations.

Precision Importance and Safety

You are good at measuring, mixing and following instructions, both written and verbal, and have a steady hand. The work involves proper use of lab reagents and other chemicals, or body fluids. It is imperative that the chemist can accurately measure, pour, use pipettes and is capable of safely handling possible dangerous chemicals that may be damaging to clothing or skin. Safe handling of reagents, glassware and other items found in laboratories is stressed on any type of job involved in their use. Lab safety is the usually the first lesson received on "on the job training."

Independent Working

You enjoy working alone. Often, chemists work singularly in their environments with minimal contact with others. Working alone can be very conducive to completing work assignment to have minimal contact, and interruptions, from other people. Little contact with others helps ensure safety, accuracy and saves time from having to repeat steps. Some people enjoy the social aspects of work environments and look forward to mingling with others during work. However, with a chemistry degree in hand, you should and will be expected to work with minimal supervision.

A chemistry degree can lead to a number of careers that will can help people in many different industries. Career opportunities exist in education and teaching to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and the medical laboratory to name just a few.

By  Meghan Belnap	Embed
Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She also enjoys being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan also enjoys researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.

 Chemistry  

Silicon-oxide materials are found in nearly every electronic device and could hold many more applications and uses. With the discovery of a method to create new oxides, even more possibilities may be available.

Chemistry researchers at the University of Georgia have established new possibilities for silicon chemistry and the semiconductor industry with a study that succeeded in isolating silicon oxide fragments for the first time, at room temperature.

The study, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, gives details on the first time chemists have been able to trap molecular species of silicon oxides using a technique they developed in 2008. the researchers isolated the silicon oxide fragments by trapping them between stabilizing organic bases.

"We've found a backdoor to approaching molecular species that contain various silicon oxides."

"In [a] 2008 discovery, we were able to stabilize the disilicon molecule, which previously could only be studied at extremely low temperatures on a solid argon matrix," said Gregory H. Robinson, UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and the study's co-author. "We demonstrated that these organic bases could stabilize a variety of extremely reactive molecules at room temperature."

In the periodic table, the columns, or groups, of elements generally share similar chemical properties. Group 14, for example, contains the element carbon, as well as silicon, the most carbon-like of all the elements. However, there are significant differences between the two. While the oxides of carbon, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are widely known, the molecular chemistry of corresponding silicon oxides is essentially unknown, due to the great reactivity of silicon-oxygen multiple bonds.

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Silicon monoxide, on the other hand, has been described as the most abundant silicon oxide in the universe but, terrestrially it is only persistent at high temperatures, about 1,200 degrees Celsius. Naturally abundant silica ((SiO2)n) exists on Earth as sand—a network solid wherein each silicon atom bonds to four oxygen atoms in a process that repeats infinitely.

The paper reports two new compounds containing Si2O3 and Si2O4 cores that the team was able to isolate using the carbene stabilization technique. This synthetic strategy allowed the team to "tame" the highly reactive silicon oxide moieties at room temperature.

The discovery breaks open an area of chemistry where difficulty with synthetics has limited the research activity. Silicon oxide materials are found in every electronic device and could hold many more applications and uses.

"Our technique seems to be an attractive means to approach a number of these highly reactive molecules," Robinson said. "We've found a backdoor to approaching molecular species that contain various silicon oxides."

"In our version of the famous quote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we ponder molecules that have never been synthesized, and we ask ‘why not?'" Robinson said.


SOURCE  University of Georgia

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 Chemistry  

Scientists have synthesized crystalline materials that can bind and store oxygen in high concentrations. Just one spoon of the substance is enough to absorb all the oxygen in a room. The stored oxygen can be released again when and where it is needed.

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esearchers from the University of Southern Denmark have synthesized crystalline materials that can bind and store oxygen in high concentrations. Just one spoon of the substance is enough to absorb all the oxygen in a room. The stored oxygen can be released again when and where it is needed. The development even has some saying that it may allow us to breathe underwater without bulky scuba equipment.

Humans need only  21 per cent oxygen in the air they breathe, and that is what our atmosphere provides. But sometimes we need oxygen in higher concentrations; for example lung patients must carry heavy oxygen tanks and cars using fuel cells need a regulated oxygen supply.

"The material is both a sensor, and a container for oxygen -- we can use it to bind, store and transport oxygen -- like a solid artificial hemoglobin."

Perhaps one day in the future even sunlight-driven "reversible" fuel cells will be made. With these we will have to separate oxygen from hydrogen in order to recombine them in order to get energy.

The crystalline material changes color when absorbing or releasing oxygen. Crystals are black when they are saturated with oxygen and pink when the oxygen has been released again. 

"In the lab, we saw how this material took up oxygen from the air around us," says researcher Christine McKenzie, who co-authored the study published in the journal Chemical Science.

The new material is crystalline, and using x-ray diffraction the researchers have studied the arrangement of atoms inside the material when it was filled with oxygen, and when it was emptied of oxygen.

"An important aspect of this new material is that it does not react irreversibly with oxygen -- even though it absorbs oxygen in a so-called selective chemisorptive process. The material is both a sensor, and a container for oxygen -- we can use it to bind, store and transport oxygen -- like a solid artificial hemoglobin," says McKenzie.

The material is so effective at binding oxygen, that only a spoon of it is enough to suck up all the oxygen in a room. The researchers' work indicates that the substance can absorb and bind oxygen in a concentration 160 times larger than the concentration in the air around us.

"It is also interesting that the material can absorb and release oxygen many times without losing the ability. It is like dipping a sponge in water, squeezing the water out of it and repeating the process over and over again," McKenzie explains.

Once the oxygen has been absorbed you can keep it stored in the material until you want to release it. The oxygen can be released by gently heating the material or subjecting it to low oxygen pressures.

Heat and pressure releases the stored oxygen

"We see release of oxygen when we heat up the material, and we have also seen it when we apply vacuum. We are now wondering if light can also be used as a trigger for the material to release oxygen -- this has prospects in the growing field of artificial photosynthesis," says McKenzie.

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The key component of the new material is the element cobalt, which is bound in a specially designed organic molecule. "Cobalt gives the new material precisely the molecular and electronic structure that enables it to absorb oxygen from its surroundings. This mechanism is well known from all breathing creatures on earth: Humans and many other species use iron, while other animals, like crabs and spiders, use copper. Small amounts of metals are essential for the absorption of oxygen, so actually it is not entirely surprising to see this effect in our new material," explains McKenzie.

Depending on the atmospheric oxygen content, temperature, pressure, etc. it takes seconds, minutes, hours or days for the substance to absorb oxygen from its surroundings. Different versions of the substance can bind oxygen at different speeds. With this complexity it becomes possible to produce devices that release and/or absorb oxygen under different circumstances -- for example a mask containing layers of these materials in the correct sequence might actively supply a person with oxygen directly from the air without the help of pumps or high pressure equipment.

"When the substance is saturated with oxygen, it can be compared to an oxygen tank containing pure oxygen under pressure -- the difference is that this material can hold three times as much oxygen," says McKenzie.

"This could be valuable for lung patients who today must carry heavy oxygen tanks with them. But also divers may one day be able to leave the oxygen tanks at home and instead get oxygen from this material as it "filters" and concentrates oxygen from surrounding air or water. A few grains contain enough oxygen for one breath, and as the material can absorb oxygen from the water around the diver and supply the diver with it, the diver will not need to bring more than these few grains."

The substance was designed and synthesized at University of Southern Denmark. Some of the gas uptake measurements have been made with special equipment by colleagues at the University of Sydney, Australia.

SOURCE  University of Southern Denmark

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 Chemistry  

Researchers have shown that boron, carbon's neighbor on the periodic table, can form a cage-like molecule similar to the buckyball. Until now, such a boron structure had only been a theoretical speculation. The researchers dubbed their new-found nanostructure 'borospherene.'

The discovery 30 years ago of soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules called buckyballs helped to spur an explosion of nanotechnology research. Now, there appears to be a new ball on the pitch.

Researchers from Brown University, Shanxi University and Tsinghua University in China have shown that a cluster of 40 boron atoms forms a hollow molecular cage similar to a carbon buckyball. It's the first experimental evidence that a boron cage structure—previously only a matter of speculation—does indeed exist.

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"This is the first time that a boron cage has been observed experimentally," said Lai-Sheng Wang, a professor of chemistry at Brown who led the team that made the discovery. "As a chemist, finding new molecules and structures is always exciting. The fact that boron has the capacity to form this kind of structure is very interesting."

Wang and his colleagues describe the molecule, which they've dubbed borospherene, in the journal Nature Chemistry.

Carbon buckyballs are made of 60 carbon atoms arranged in pentagons and hexagons to form a sphere—like a soccer ball. Their discovery in 1985 was soon followed by discoveries of other hollow carbon structures including carbon nanotubes. Another famous carbon nanomaterial—a one-atom-thick sheet called graphene—followed shortly after.

After buckyballs, scientists wondered if other elements might form these odd hollow structures. One candidate was boron, carbon's neighbor on the periodic table. But because boron has one less electron than carbon, it can't form the same 60-atom structure found in the buckyball. The missing electrons would cause the cluster to collapse on itself. If a boron cage existed, it would have to have a different number of atoms.

Wang and his research group have been studying boron chemistry for years. In a paper published earlier this year, Wang and his colleagues showed that clusters of 36 boron atoms form one-atom-thick disks, which might be stitched together to form an analog to graphene, dubbed borophene. Wang's preliminary work suggested that there was also something special about boron clusters with 40 atoms. They seemed to be abnormally stable compared to other boron clusters. Figuring out what that 40-atom cluster actually looks like required a combination of experimental work and modeling using high-powered supercomputers.

"This is the first time that a boron cage has been observed experimentally. As a chemist, finding new molecules and structures is always exciting. The fact that boron has the capacity to form this kind of structure is very interesting."

On the computer, Wang's colleagues modeled over 10,000 possible arrangements of 40 boron atoms bonded to each other. The computer simulations estimate not only the shapes of the structures, but also estimate the electron binding energy for each structure—a measure of how tightly a molecule holds its electrons. The spectrum of binding energies serves as a unique fingerprint of each potential structure.

The next step is to test the actual binding energies of boron clusters in the lab to see if they match any of the theoretical structures generated by the computer. To do that, Wang and his colleagues used a technique called photoelectron spectroscopy.

Chunks of bulk boron are zapped with a laser to create vapor of boron atoms. A jet of helium then freezes the vapor into tiny clusters of atoms. The clusters of 40 atoms were isolated by weight then zapped with a second laser, which knocks an electron out of the cluster. The ejected electron flies down a long tube Wang calls his "electron racetrack." The speed at which the electrons fly down the racetrack is used to determine the cluster's electron binding energy spectrum—its structural fingerprint.

The experiments showed that 40-atom-clusters form two structures with distinct binding spectra. Those spectra turned out to be a dead-on match with the spectra for two structures generated by the computer models. One was a semi-flat molecule and the other was the buckyball-like spherical cage.

"The experimental sighting of a binding spectrum that matched our models was of paramount importance," Wang said. "The experiment gives us these very specific signatures, and those signatures fit our models."

The borospherene molecule isn't quite as spherical as its carbon cousin. Rather than a series of five- and six-membered rings formed by carbon, borospherene consists of 48 triangles, four seven-sided rings and two six-membered rings. Several atoms stick out a bit from the others, making the surface of borospherene somewhat less smooth than a buckyball.

As for possible uses for borospherene, it's a little too early to tell, Wang says. One possibility, he points out, could be hydrogen storage. Because of the electron deficiency of boron, borospherene would likely bond well with hydrogen. So tiny boron cages could serve as safe houses for hydrogen molecules.

But for now, Wang is enjoying the discovery.

"For us, just to be the first to have observed this, that's a pretty big deal," Wang said. "Of course if it turns out to be useful that would be great, but we don't know yet. Hopefully this initial finding will stimulate further interest in boron clusters and new ideas to synthesize them in bulk quantities."


SOURCE  Brown University via EurekAlert

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 Imaging  

A research team has developed a general method to image a broad spectrum of small biomolecules, such as small molecular drugs and nucleic acids, amino acids, lipids for determining where they are localized and how they function inside cells.

Researchers at Columbia University have made a significant step toward visualizing small biomolecules inside living biological systems with minimum disturbance, a longstanding goal in the scientific community. In a study published in Nature Methods, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Wei Min's research team has developed a general method to image a broad spectrum of small biomolecules, such as small molecular drugs and nucleic acids, amino acids, lipids for determining where they are localized and how they function inside cells.

When studying biological functions of a molecule in complex and mysterious cells, researchers typically label the molecules of interest with fluorophores, a kind of molecule that glows when illuminated. Using a fluorescence microscope, common in research labs, the fluorophore-tagged molecules can be located and tracked with high precision. The invention of green fluorescent protein (GFP), in 1994, compatible with imaging inside live cells and animals, has since made fluorescence microscopy even more popular.

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However, when it comes to small biomolecules, fluorophore tagging is problematic, because the fluorophores are almost always larger or comparable in size to the small molecules of interest. As a result, they often disturb the normal functions of these small molecules with crucial biological roles.

To address this problem, Min and his team departed from the conventional paradigm of fluorescence imaging of fluorophores, and pursued a novel combination of physics and chemistry. Specifically, they coupled an emerging laser-based technique called stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy with a small but highly vibrant alkyne tag (that is, C=C, carbon-carbon triple bond), a chemical bond that, when it stretches, produces a strong Raman scattering signal at a unique "frequency" (different from natural molecules inside cells).

This new technique, labeling the small molecules with this tiny alkyne tag, avoids perturbation that occurs with large fluorescent tags, while obtaining high detection specificity and sensitivity by SRS imaging. By tuning the laser colors to the alkyne frequency and quickly scanning the focused laser beam across the sample, point-by-point, SRS microscopy can pick up the unique stretching motion of the C=C bond carried by the small molecules and produce a three-dimensional map of the molecules inside living cells and animals.

In this way, Min's team demonstrated tracking alkyne-bearing drugs in mouse tissues and visualizing de novo synthesis of DNA, RNA, proteins, phospholipids and triglycerides through metabolic incorporation of alkyne-tagged small precursors in living cells.

"The major advantages of our technique lie in the superb sensitivity, specificity and biocompatibility with dynamics of live cells and animals for small molecule imaging," says the lead author Lu Wei, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry.

Next, Min's team will apply this new technique to biomedical questions, such as detecting tumor cells and probing drug pharmacokinetics in animal models. They are also creating other alkyne-labeled biologically active molecules for more versatile imaging applications.

"Our new technique will open up numerous otherwise difficult studies on small biomolecules in live cells and animals," says Min. "In addition to basic research, our technique could also contribute greatly to translational applications. I believe SRS imaging of alkyne tags could do for small biomolecules what fluorescence imaging of fluorophores such as GFP has done for larger species."



SOURCE  Columbia University via EurekAlert

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 Solar Energy  

Researchers at Boston College report that modifying the surface of hematite with a nickel iron oxide coating produces an increase in cathode photovoltage of nearly four-tenths of a volt. That's nearly enough energy to put an economical method of artificial photosynthesis within reach.

Chemists at Boston College have achieved a series of breakthroughs in their efforts to develop an economical means of harnessing artificial photosynthesis by narrowing the voltage gap between the two crucial processes of oxidation and reduction, according to their latest research, published this week in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

The team reports it has come within two-tenths of the photovoltage required to mimic oxidation and reduction respectively using unique photoanodes and photocathodes the team developed using novel nanowire components and coatings. Narrowing the gap using economical chemical components, the group moves researchers closer to using the man-made reaction for unique applications such as solar energy harvesting and storage.

"Many researchers have been trying to harvest solar energy and directly store it in chemical bonds," said lead author Dunwei Wang, an associate professor of chemistry at Boston College. "Solar panels can harvest energy, but economical storage has remained elusive. We are trying to borrow a page from Mother Nature whereby photosynthesis produces energy from the sun and stores it."

But copying Mother Nature is a tall order and this particular quest "requires materials that can absorb sunlight broadly, transfer the energy to excited charges at high efficiencies and catalyze specific reduction and oxidation reactions," the team writes in the article "Hematite-Based Water Splitting with Low Turn-on Voltage."

Natural photosynthesis consists of two important processes. Oxidation produces oxygen gas. Reduction produces organic molecules. Wang said artificial photosynthesis, also known as water splitting, tries to copy these two reactions using a photoanode to oxidize water and a photocathode to either reduce water for hydrogen production or to reduce carbon dioxide for organic molecules.

But in an artificial environment, a gap has persisted in the voltage required on either side of the reaction in order achieve these results, Wang said. In essence, oxidation and reduction require 1.2 to 1.3 volts combined to achieve the charge required to power artificial photosynthesis.

Previously, only rare materials allowed researchers bridge the gap, but those efforts are prohibitively expensive for widespread application. Wang and his lab have spent the past two years searching for inexpensive alternatives to bridge the voltage gap.

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The team's latest research produced advances in photoanode development, where their engineered nanowire structures enabled the team to achieve a photovoltage of .6 volts using an iron oxide material. The voltage represents a 50 percent increase above the best prior results, which were reported last year. The results put Wang and his team within two-tenths of a volt of the necessary photovoltage.

The team achieved the gains by coating hematite, an iron oxide similar to rust, with nickel iron oxide.

Already, the team has yielded more than 1 volt of power when combined with the photocathode they developed earlier this year, said Wang.

"Our system, made of oxygen, silicon and iron – three of the four most abundant elements on earth – can now provide more than 1 volt of power together," said Wang. "Now we are just two-tenths of a volt short on the photoanode. That's a significant narrowing of the gap."

He says closing the gap completely is entirely within reach, particularly since other researchers have used different systems to do so. He said his lab might partner with other researchers in an effort to close the gap.

"With our innovations on the photocathode alone, this two-tenths of a volt is within reach," said Wang. "The real exciting part is that we were able to achieve six tenths of a volt using rust. That has never been done before."

SOURCE  EurekAlert

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 Biological Computation  

Chemists from North Carolina State University have performed a DNA-based logic-gate operation within a human cell. The research may pave the way to more complicated computations in live cells, as well as new methods of disease detection and treatment.

Chemists from North Carolina State University have performed a DNA-based logic-gate operation within a human cell. The research may pave the way to more complicated computations in live cells, as well as new methods of disease detection and treatment.

Their results appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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Logic gates are the means by which computers “compute,” as sets of them are combined in different ways to enable computers to ultimately perform tasks like addition or subtraction. In DNA computing, these gates are created by combining different strands of DNA, rather than a series of transistors. However, thus far DNA computation events have typically taken place in a test tube, rather than in living cells.

NC State chemist Alex Deiters and graduate student James Hemphill wanted to see if a DNA-based logic gate could detect the presence of specific microRNAs in human cells. The researchers utilized a DNA-based logic gate known as an “AND” gate that was engineered to respond to the presence of two specific microRNAs – known as miRNA-21 and miRNA-122.

Just as computer operations utilize different inputs to create a particular output, the researchers’ DNA-based Boolean logic gate was activated only when both miRNA-21 and miRNA-122 “inputs” were present in cells. If they were present, the gate generated an “output” by releasing a fluorescent molecule.

Deiters believes that use of these logic gates could lead to more accurate tests and treatments for human disease, especially cancer.

“The fluorescent molecule we used in this logic-gate design could be useful as a marker that identifies a cancer cell,” he says. “Or, instead of directing the gate to release a fluorescent molecule in the presence of particular microRNAs, we could attach therapeutic agents that are released to treat the disease itself.”



SOURCE  \NC State

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