Chemistry
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) – the biomolecule which can do it all
Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech have independently studied how the genetic code is transferred from DNA to RNA. They knew, however, that part of the genetic information is not required and must be removed from RNA before the RNA molecule can be utilized by the cell. While searching for the catalysts of RNA maturation, Altman…
moreOrganic synthesis
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 Carbon compounds of different shapes and sizes build up all life on earth, but they can also be produced artificially. This is called organic synthesis and is central in chemistry. Here molecules are tailored and built in the service of mankind. The…
moreHow does a chiral molecule function?
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001 The substances used as the starting point for these syntheses are in general not chiral. The trick is to make the product chiral. This is done using a chiral catalyst molecule. Suppose we compare this molecule with a left hand. A…
moreLinus Pauling – Biographical
Biographical
Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, on 28th February, 1901, the son of a druggist, Herman Henry William Pauling, who, though born in Missouri, was of German descent, and his wife, Lucy Isabelle Darling, born in Oregon of English-Scottish ancestry. Linus attended the public elementary and high schools in the town of Condon…
morePress release
Press release
17 October 1978 has decided to award the 1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Dr Peter Mitchell, Glynn Research Laboratories, Bodmin, Cornwall, UK, for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory. NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY FOR BIOLOGICAL ENERGY TRANSFER Mitchell’s research has been carried out within…
moreSpeed read: A Helping Hand
Speed read
Most chemicals that have an important role in biology exist as a pair of almost identical twins. These twins, called chiral enantiomers, contain exactly the same atoms, but they appear as mirror images that do not fit on top of each other, like placing your left hand on top of your right hand. Such a…
morePressemitteilung: Der Nobelpreis in Chemie 2000
Press release
German 10. Oktober 2000 hat beschlossen, den Nobelpreis in Chemie für das Jahr 2000 gemeinsam zu verleihen an Alan J. HeegerUniversity of California at Santa Barbara, USA Alan G. MacDiarmidUniversity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA Hideki ShirakawaUniversity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA “für die Entdeckung und Entwicklung von leitenden Polymeren” Kunststoff, der Elektrizität leitet Wir haben gelernt,…
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