Category Archives: Chemistry

New paper published on Journal of Physical Chemistry A

The paper I submitted some time ago at the Journal of Physical Chemistry A has been published: Borini S, Limacher PA, Luethi HP, “Structural Features Analysis and Nonlinearity of End-Cap-Substituted Polyacetylenes”, DOI: 10.1021/jp908439x
I already wrote about the findings reported in this paper at the time it was accepted. It is a very nice paper, and [...]

Eight molecules that changed the rules of the game: Diethyl Ether

With this post I want to start a series about single molecules whose synthesis, discovery, or explanation had such dramatic effects for humanity to produce a complete paradigm shift for daily life or scientific insight. On purpose, I left out the “big ones”: you will not find DNA in this list, nor you will find [...]

Periodic table of videos

I found this very interesting site about the periodic table of elements, from the University of Nottingham. For each element, there’s a video showing the characteristics of the element, and a brief commentary. Worth checking out if you always had some curiosity about the chemical elements, what they look like, and how they behave.
They also [...]

Nonlinear optics with polymers

Of the many things I posted, I never had the chance to write something about my direct scientific activity. Recently I worked on optical properties of polyenes. A paper has been published recently on Journal of Chemical Physics. Another one is submitted right now, and a third is in preparation.
Molecules interact with light. This should [...]

Successfully obtained “primordial RNA” in lab conditions

A groundbreaking paper “Generation of long RNA chains in water” from Costanzo, Pino, Ciciriello and Di Mauro on Journal of Biological Chemistry proposes conditions for the obtainment of complex RNA chains from cyclic nucleotides. The proposed conditions are typical for the pre-biotic Earth: hot springs and puddles with water at moderate temperature (40 to 90 [...]

The scale of things

This is a very interesting application that should convey you an idea of the size of small things: from a coffee bean down to a small carbon atom. It pairs with this movie about the size of planets and stars. Fascinating and humbling.

A molecular structure image resolved for the first time

This article at New Scientist brought me that fascinating excitement of what you already know, but you really get to see for the very first time. A group at IBM Zurich was able to produce incredibly resolved images of pentacene. Meet the pentacene in traditional chemical structure:

And compare it with “its photo“. Amazing! Of course, [...]

Let’s burn water

So, apparently you can burn saltwater (1, 2, 3, 4) by irradiating it with radiofrequency, weakening the hydrogen-oxygen bond to break it, and igniting the hydrogen and oxygen gas you obtain. The burning flame can then be used to produce electricity.
My proposal is therefore the following: let’s power the RF generator with the electricity produced [...]

Triboluminescence

A few days ago I received a letter. While opening it, I was able to spot a considerably bright blue luminescence coming from the line where the glue separated. I heard many times about this phenomenon, but never able to witness it. It is called triboluminescence, and arises by charge separation created by the mechanical [...]

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