Chemistry World

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Jamie Durrani

Applying an electrical charge to liquid droplets reduces – or even eliminates – the splash when those droplets hit a solid surface. In some cases, charge can even prevent splashing altogether. The researchers behind the finding suggest that the phenomenon could be used to control impact dynamics during inkjet printing, and in the application of pesticides or surface coatings. Droplets can acquire charge in various settings.

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Rebecca Trager

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is ending its diversity programme following significant legal and political pressure. The organisation has announced that it will sunset the Scholars Program, which is more than three decades old and awards scholarships to undergraduates from historically underrepresented groups studying the chemical sciences. In its place, the ACS will launch a new scholarship scheme that will not consider race or ethnicity in the application process.

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Victoria Atkinson

An alternative use for skeletal editing provides a one-pot method to synthesise ‘matching pairs’ of pharmaceutical candidates for structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies. This functional group transposition employs a photochemical reaction to exchange two ring carbons in dihydrobenzofuran substrates, simultaneously switching the position of any associated functional groups to produce the constitutional isomer. Source: © Ryan T.

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Anthony J. King

The spotlight was recently shone on the work culture of Chinese universities earlier this year following the death of a professor of materials science, aged 47, at Zhejiang University. The family blamed an ‘insane’ workload for the death of Liu Yongfeng from cerebral haemorrhage, according to the South China Morning Post. An open letter posted online by his wife calculated his working hours between March 2024 and 20 January this year.

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Julia Robinson

A food chemist from the University of Helsinki has won the 17th Dance your PhD contest with choreography that explores the unique sensations experienced when eating certain foods, such as fiery capsaicin found in chillis and the tingly cool of menthol in mint.