News

The chemical basis for detecting rare DNA lesions by base excision repair enzymes has captivated the imagination of the DNA repair field since it represents a statistically improbable feat. A collaboration between Sheila David’s lab and Andrea Lee’s lab at the University of Vermont provided key insights into the lesion recognition process by one such DNA repair enzyme. MutY, and it’s human homolog MUTYH, are adenine glycosylases proficient in locating rare and mutagenic OG:A mispairs and distinguishing them from structurally similar undamaged DNA.

In a recent publication (Berben and coworkers, Journal of American Chemical Society, 2020) the Berben Lab brings to light an approach for enhancing rates of hydrogen evolution using a metal-metal bonded molecular catalyst. Experiments demonstrate that [Co₁₃C₂(CO)₂₄]⁴⁻, containing multiple metal-metal bonds boosts the rate of hydrogen evolution compared to single-site metal complexes.

In a recent publication (Jagannathan and coworkers) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Franz lab has joined forces with the Shaw lab to develop a new catalytic Si-H insertion reaction using diarylcarbenes that allows selective synthesis of chiral-at-silicon compounds with high yield and enantioselectivity. The incorporation of silicon-centered chirality into more complex structures such as drug candidates, polymers, and ligands is limited because there is a shortage of synthetic methods to access these chiral molecules.

The quantum mechanical potential energy of a molecule along torsion (dihedral angle) degrees of freedom is a crucial factor in the conformational flexibility of molecules, and plays a major role in the development of force fields for molecular simulation.  In a recent publication in the Journal of Chemical Physics, the Wang research group describes an improved workflow for computing these potential energy surfaces using a recursive wavefront propagation algorithm.  The new algorithm improves on existing approaches because it is less likely to get stuck in high-energy local minima a

In a recent publication (Perryman and coworkers, featured on the back cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry C, “Emerging Investigators” themed issue, available in early August 2020) the Velázquez Lab describes for the first time experimental evidence of microwave-induced 1-dimensional growth of a compositionally modular pseudo-Chevrel-Phase chalcogenide nanorod framework.

In a recent publication, the Olson Lab used a variety of chemical tools to demonstrate that the marine natural product bryostatin 1 increases synaptogenesis while simultaneously reducing the number of protrusions that harbor synapses.  This unique effect has the potential to improve signal-to-noise ratio in the central nervous system and could possible explain why the natural product improves memory.  Bryostatin 1 is currently being investigated for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

A recently accepted publication by Heffern and coworkers in Inorganic Chemistry identifies the copper(II) and zinc(II) binding site on a peptide hormone known as C-peptide. C-peptide is made alongside insulin in the pancreas and may help with kidney and blood vessel damage in patients with diabetes. Their findings show that copper(II) and zinc(II) share the same site and compete with each other for binding at the N-terminus of the peptide.

Nano-sized galvanic replacement reaction is a powerful tool to synthesize complicate nanostructures. In this work the Kauzlarich lab (Xiao, et al., ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020) report an unconventional galvanic replacement reaction between GeI₂ and Ag NPs with morphological and compositional control. An inward and outward diffusion mechanism is proposed and supported by imaging the different stages of the reaction and analysis of the products. The unique mechanism allows the reaction to be self-terminated and achieve nanometer-sized accuracy.

In a new JACS article (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jacs.0c03802), Lizhi Tao in the Britt lab works with the Tom Rauchfuss lab at Illinois and the Begley lab at Texas A&M to reveal how the radical SAM enzyme HydE activates the HydG-generated organometallic synthon [Fe(II)(CO)2CN(cysteine)] for dimerization as a key step in forming the catalytic H-cluster of Fe-Fe hydrogenase.

Thermochromic or vapochromic dyes change color in response to temperature changes or vapor pressure of organic compounds, which are useful in many applications including sensors, labels for biomaterials, thermal coatings for windows, and optoelectronic devices.  In a recent JACS publication, Lucy Luong (Balch lab) and coworkers describe experiments showed that salts of the [(C₆H₁₁NC)₂Au]⁺ cation with non-coordinating anions such as PF₆⁻, AsF₆⁻ and SbF₆⁻ feature remarkable diversity in their molecular structure, luminescence, and thermochromic