Ruby is a relatively rare, red colored gemstone and a variety of corundum (Al2O3) with traces of hexavalent chromium that’s responsible for ruby’s rich red color. The best, dark colored rubies are from West Mogok, Myanmar (Mandalay Division). However, that’s not ruby that I would like to write about. Today I’ve embarked on a new […]

The first systematic study of a new group of explosives has concluded that the materials are so shock sensitive â?? apt to detonate if struck or heated â?? that the legendarily touchy nitroglycerin seems a pillar of stability by comparison. Conducted by Thomas M. Klapötke and colleagues in Germany.

A few years back during my 3 month trip to China I remember noticing enormous number of pharmacies that sold traditional Chinese medicine. Everywhere I went in China they looked more or less the same just like an old-fashion pharmacy of the 1920s here in the West with its wooden drawers and cabinets full of […]

A review was published yesterday in “Journal of Separation Science” by a group of Italian researchers. So far all I have is abstract: Since its first introduction by Karlsson and Novotny in 1988 nano-LC has emerged as a complementary and/or competitive separation method to conventional HPLC, offering several advantages such as higher efficiency, ability to […]

For those of you who are into organic synthesis. May 25th issue of Science published a paper by David R. Stuart and Keith Fagnou from University of Ottawa (Canada) – “The Catalytic Cross-Coupling of Unactivated Arenes”. They report that aromatic compounds can be coupled without having to preactivate the reactants. This method employs palladium and […]

A breakthrough patent awarded to a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) researcher will enable manufacturers to create a device to detect miniscule amounts of airborne pollutants. Using computer chip technology, Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and chair of NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, has developed and patented what could eventually become a simple […]

A question from Yahoo! Answers: Can anyone explain how does HPLC measure HbA1c? What exactly is HPLC? Let’s start with the last part of the question – “What exactly is HPLC?” HPLC or High Performance Liquid Chromatography in simple terms is a form of column chromatography used frequently in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to separate […]

Scientists of the University of Twente (The Netherlands) succeed in speeding up the fluid flow in a micro channel using tiny and rapidly imploding gas bubbles that also provide a new way of mixing fluids within a lab-on-a-chip, without the need of complicated external components. The scientists led by Dr. Claus-Dieter Ohl of the MESA+ […]

How many of you out there picked or even ate fresh bilberries? Probably not too many, unless you are from Northern Europe, Russia, or the Rocky Mountains of the US. The rest of us find bilberries in the form of purple capsules in dietary supplements. Bilberry is small shrub to a one foot in height […]

“Create. Combat. Conquer.”- the slogan of Silicon Valley gaming startup “Elementeo” and its 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. â??We inject fun into education,â? the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, promoting his new fantasy role playing board game which he hopes will change the way kids learn chemistry. Here is a video of […]