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Chemistry News

• New Chitinase Inhibitors

  New Chitinase Inhibitors Effective imitation: chitinase inhibition by chitobiose and chitotriose thiazolines. Image: Di- and trisaccharide analogues of the oxazoline intermediate formed during enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin were found to be potent inhibitors of chitinase A. The high affinity and enzymatic stability of a readily synthesized thioamide trisaccharide (two molecules of which are shown in the enzyme active site), and the mechanism-based mode of inhibition, make this analogue a promising candidate for broad-spectrum chitinase inhibition. [Credit: Angewandte Chemie, Wiley-VCH]

• Synthetic Sea Shells
  Scientists have made synthetic 'sea shells' from a mixture of chalk and polystyrene cups - and produced a tough new material that could make our homes and offices more durable.
• DNA Repair
  Mouse work: New insights on a fundamental DNA repair mechanism.
• Mineral Studies Advance Antibacterial Alternatives
  Alternative approaches to medicine are stock-in-trade in the ASU laboratory of microbiologist Shelley Haydel.
• Hexagonal Boron Nitride

  Hexagonal Boron Nitride Rice researchers make graphene hybrid. One-atom-thick sheet offers new microelectronic possibilities. Image: A one-atom-thick layer of a graphene and boron nitride hybrid is visible to the naked eye when deposited on a glass slide. [Credit: Rice University/Ajayan Lab]