DECEMBER 2022 Southwest Retort

SOUTHWESTRETORT

SEVENTY-FIFTH YEAR

December 2022

Published for the advancement of Chemists, Chemical Engineers and Chemistry in this area

published by The Dallas-Fort Worth Section, with the cooperation of five other local sections of the American Chemical Society in the Southwest Region.

Vol. 75(4) December 2022

Editorial and Business Offices: Contact the Editor for subscription and advertisement information.

Editor: Connie Hendrickson: retort@acsdfw.org

Copy and Layout Editor: Lance Hughes: hugla64@gmail.com

Business Manager: Martha Gilchrist: Martha.Gilchrist@tccd.edu

The Southwest Retort is published monthly, September through May, by the Dallas-Ft. Worth Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc., for the ACS Sections of the Southwest Region.

From the ACS Press Room

“High-Throughput Analysis Reveals miRNA Upregulating a-2,6 Sialic Acid Through Direct miRNA: miRNA Interactions”

ACS Central Science

MicroRNAs can play a role in cancer development and are thought to exclusively suppress protein expression in dividing cells, such as tumor cells. But new research published in ACS Central Science shows that some of these tiny molecules can elevate the expression of a particular gene in dividing human cells and in cancer cells, challenging conventional wisdom.

Only a few nucleotides in length, microRNAs, or miRNAs for short, don’t encode proteins. Instead, they largely downregulate, or suppress, protein production by silencing the expression of certain genes. One class of cellular machinery regulated by miRNAs are the enzymes involved in mediating glycosylation, which add carbohydrates to certain proteins. In cancer cells, however, this process can be highly dysregulated, suggesting that miRNAs could be doing something unusual. So, Lara Mahal and colleagues set out to investigate exactly how miRNAs function within the glycosylation process, and whether the molecules might be functioning in a new way.

Previously, the researchers developed a fluorescence assay that can analyze how miRNAs interact with their targets, and whether

they increase or decrease the amount of protein produced. They used the assay to investigate the regulation of cancer related glycosylation enzymes ST6GAL1 and ST6GAL2, and found that for the former, the miRNAs appeared to directly upregulate the process in noncancerous human cells. This challenges the current understanding that miRNAs only downregulate protein production. They also tested for miRNAmediated upregulation in multiple cancer cell lines and observed the same results.

The researchers say that this work expands the understanding of how miRNAs work, an important consideration for using miRNA based therapeutics in both current and future clinical trials.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Canada Excellence Research Chair Program.

Surprisingly, these microRNAs boost — rather than dampen — protein expression

microRNA molecules, as shown in this illustration, can upregulate proteins in addition to downregulating them.

Credit: nobeastsofierce/Shutterstock.com

From the ACS Press Room

Putting the brakes on lithium-ion batteries to prevent fires

“Early Braking of Overwarmed LithiumIon Batteries by Shape-Memorized Current Collectors

Nano Letters

New technology could help prevent fires in overheating lithium ion batteries, like the ones shown here.

Credit: cigdem/Shutterstock.com

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are used to power everything from smart watches to electric vehicles, thanks to the large amounts of energy they can store in small spaces. When overheated, however, they’re prone to catching fire or even exploding. But recent research published in ACS’ Nano Letters offers a possible solution with a new technology that can swiftly put the brakes on a Li ion battery, shutting it down when it gets too hot.

The chemistry found in many batteries is essentially the same: Electrons are shuttled through an electronic device in a circuit from one electrode in the battery to another. But in a Li ion cell, the electrolyte liquid that separates these electrodes can evaporate when it overheats, causing a short circuit. In certain

cases, short circuiting can lead to thermal runaway, a process in which a cell heats itself uncontrollably. When multiple Li ion cells are chained together such as in electric vehicles thermal runaway can spread from one unit to the next, resulting in a very large, hard to fight fire. To prevent this, some batteries now have fail safe features, such as external vents, temperature sensors or flame retardant electrolytes. But these measures often either kick in too late or harm performance. So, Yapei Wang, Kai Liu and colleagues wanted to create a Li ion battery that could shut itself down quickly, but also work just as well as existing technologies.

The researchers used a thermally-responsive shape memory polymer covered with a conductive copper spray to create a material that would transmit electrons most of the time, but switch to being an insulator when heated excessively. At around 197 F, a microscopic, 3D pattern programmed into the polymer appeared, breaking apart the copper layer and stopping the flow of electrons. This permanently shut down the cell but prevented a potential fire. At this temperature, however, traditional cells kept running, putting them at risk of thermal runaway if they became hot again. Under regular operating temperatures, the battery with the new polymer maintained a high conductivity, low resistivity and similar cycling lifetime to a traditional battery cell. The researchers say that this technology

Continued on page 12

“A Rainbow Structural Color by Stretchable Photonic Crystal for Saccharide Identification”

ACS Nano

Rainbows and sugar may conjure up images of a certain leprechaun branded breakfast cereal. But now, researchers in ACS Nano report a kaleidoscope-like film for telling different sweeteners apart that displayed multiple colors when stretched by hand. When evenly stretched with a simple apparatus, the material enhanced the unique shifts in fluorescence intensity of 14 sugars tagged with a dye, distinguishing between them in beverages and sweat samples. Watch a video of the rainbow film.

Youtube ID: 0leRoAFxDBA

Sweet tastes in drinks can come from many types of sugar, including sucrose, fructose and glucose, as well as less common ones, such as maltose. There are also sugars in people’s sweat, which could be tracked to noninvasively monitor blood sugar. It’s hard to tell which molecules are present based on taste or look alone; instead, they’re usually identified with complex methods and sophisticated instruments. To simplify the detection process, Fengyu Li and colleagues previously used photonic crystals polystyrene nanospheres whose color shifts when sugary compounds are nearby in a color changing chip sensor that distinguished 12 different sugars from one another. But these sensors weren’t wearable, so, Li, Chunbao Li and a new team

wanted to incorporate photonic crystals into a stretchable easy-to-carry film and see whether the rainbow colored platform could also detect and differentiate sugars. The researchers embedded closely packed, ordered rows of polystyrene nanospheres into a film of polyethyl acrylate. Initially, the gummy material looked red, but when it was stretched with a uniform force, its color shifted through the rainbow red to pink to orange to yellow green to light green and, finally, dark green at a 40% stretch. And when pulled by hand, the material produced a kaleidoscope of colors, as different parts of the material had different forces on them. In initial experiments, the researchers showed that stretching the film enhanced the fluorescent signals from 14 sugars that had been attached to dyes. These signals could then be sorted from one another. To see if the sensor could do the same with real world samples, they mixed six commercially available drinks with the dye alizarin red S 2 diphenylboronic acid 2 aminoethyl ester, creating fluorescent complexes. Solutions with these complexes were dotted onto the film, which was then stretched, and the fluorescence intensities were measured at two different wavelengths of light. And because each samples’ sugar-dye complexes produced unique signals, they could be distinguished from each other. The sensor also differentiated sweat samples from six people. Based on

Gorgeous rainbow-colored, stretchy film for distinguishing sugars (video)

From the ACS Press Room

Activities

for Chemistry

Week

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Build a Molecule Build a Periodic Table Build an Atomic Model Chromatography History Collections Spot Light Science Collection Spot Light Natural Dye Activity Periodic Table Puzzle

West 7th Wool Spinning Weaving Wormspit.com

Silk Worms and Spinning

Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School Fashion Design

Science Demos on Textile Fibers and their origins

Hebron High School Chemistry Shows Texas Women’s University Strawberry DNAExtraction Fiber Samples

Fort Worth Country Day Making Nylon and Rayon Fibers Periodic Table Element Samples University of Texas at Dallas

From the

ACS Press Room

Beer hops compounds could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease

“Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention through Natural Compounds: Cell-Free, In Vitro, and In Vivo Dissection of Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Multitarget Activity”

ACS Chemical Neuroscience

Beer is one of the oldest and most popular beverages in the world, with some people loving and others hating the distinct, bitter taste of the hops used to flavor its many varieties. But an especially “hoppy” brew might have unique health benefits. Recent research published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience reports that chemicals extracted from hop flowers can, in lab dishes, inhibit the clumping of amyloid beta proteins, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease, often marked by memory loss and personality changes in older adults. Part of the difficulty in treating the disease is the time lag between the start of underlying biochemical processes and the onset of symptoms, with several years separating them. This means that irreversible damage to the nervous system occurs before one even realizes they

may have the disease. Accordingly, preventative strategies and therapeutics that can intervene before symptoms appear are of increasing interest.

One of these strategies involves “nutraceuticals,” or foods that have some type of medicinal or nutritional function. The hop flowers used to flavor beers have been explored as one of these potential nutraceuticals, with previous studies suggesting that the plant could interfere with the accumulation of amyloid beta proteins associated with AD. So, Cristina Airoldi, Alessandro Palmioli and colleagues wanted to investigate which chemical compounds in hops had this effect.

To identify these compounds, the researchers created and characterized extracts of four common varieties of hops using a method similar to that used in the brewing process. In tests, they found that the extracts had antioxidant properties and could prevent amyloid beta proteins from

on page 12

Hop flowers used to flavor beers contain compounds that could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Credit: Ievgenii Meyer/ Shutterstock.com

From the ACS Press Room

Recent advances in chocolate research

Chocolate has been appreciated as a delicacy for thousands of years, and it’s easy to see why. The luscious and luxurious treat can give you a little pick me up toward the end of a hard day, or provide a sweet ending to a fine meal. You might think we know everything about chocolate by now, but surprisingly, researchers are still reporting new findings about the confection. Below are some recent papers published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that report insights into chocolate, such as what compounds make it taste a certain way, how it could help strengthen teeth and how to tell if a chocolate bar is authentic. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org.

“Decoding the Fine Flavor Properties of Dark Chocolates”

floral, but what compounds are responsible for these sensations? The researchers leading this study answered this question and showed, for the first time, that they could decode the flavor attributes at the molecular level. Using aroma extract dilution analysis, they identified and quantified several compounds associated with the fine flavor properties in a set of reference chocolates that are used to train sensory panelists.

“B-type Proanthocyanidins with Dentin Biomodification Activity from Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)”

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Sept. 22, 2022

Cocoa could help save your teeth! In past research, this team identified plant derived proanthocyanidins (PACs) as promising treatments for dental issues because these compounds can strengthen dentin, the layer of the tooth under the enamel. The authors also previously found that PACs from cocoa beans, which are used to make chocolate, had positive effects on teeth. Here, they isolated and characterized the structures of six cocoa PACs, including a new tetramer, and found that the dentin-strengthening properties depended on the compounds’ structures and the way they were linked.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Oct. 18, 2022

A good, rich dark chocolate can be described as cocoa like, acidic, fruity or even

From the ACS Press Room continued

“Lithium-ion Batteries”

Continued from page 6

could make Li ion batteries safer without having to sacrifice their performance.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tsinghua University China Petrochemical Corporation Joint Institute for Green Chemical Engineering and the Tsinghua Foshan Innovation Special Fund.

“

Distinguishing Sugars”

Continued from page 7

these results, the researchers say that the stretchable, multicolored material could be incorporated into wearable devices for environmental, clinical or health monitoring of sugar, or modified to detect other substances.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

el of polyphenols showed the most potent antibiotic and aggregation inhibiting activity. It also promoted processes that allow the body to clear out misfolded, neurotoxic proteins. Finally, the team tested the Tettnang extract in a C. elegans model and found that it protected the worms from AD related paralysis, though the effect was not very pronounced. The researchers say that although this work may not justify drinking more bitter brews, it shows that hop compounds could serve as the basis for nutraceuticals that combat the development ofAD.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR).

“

Beer Hops compound”

Continued from page 10

clumping in human nerve cells. The most successful extract was from the Tettnang hop, found in many types of lagers and lighter ales. When that extract was separated into fractions, the one containing a high lev-

From the ACS Press Room

“Chocolate”

Continued from page 11

“In Vitro CRISPR Cpf1 Assay for Differentiation of Fine and Bulk Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

July 5, 2022

When splurging on an expensive chocolate treat, you want to know that it’s made from

high-quality ingredients. Here, researchers used a CRISPR-Cpf1 assay to distinguish pricey Arriba Nacional beans from those of a less-prized cultivar. The more well-known CRISPR technology CRISPR-Cas9 couldn’t tell the cultivars apart. So, these researchers showed that an alternative method, called CRISPR Cpf1, could do the job, and they demonstrated it with various cocoa bean mixtures. The researchers say that the assay should be easy for many labs to implement for quality assurance testing and fraud detection.

From the Editor

The first National Chemistry Day was in 1987, on (what else?) 10/23. Our first NCD was at Nolan High School, courtesy of the late Paul Ricca, who talked them into letting us have it there. We mailed out notices of the event but did not ask for RSVPs...big mistake! We had busloads of students rolling in, and had to do the Chem Demo show (courtesy of the late great George Hague) in two parts. The snacks were supplied by my sister in law, who drove a delivery truck for a grocery; she gave us the out-of-date cookies! Within a couple of years, National Chemistry Day became National Chemistry Week, to make things a little easier for scheduling. However, Bill Hendrickson (also a chemist and professor of organic chemistry at the University of Dallas) still celebrated on 10/23, at 6.02 in the morning. Some students objected, saying that 6.02 in the evening would do just as well. Nope. Every October 23, he and the chemistry students at UD ignited a mole of hydrogen in balloons at 6.02. (After the first year, they remembered to alert the UD police…) Thanks to all the ACS sections who celebrated NCW; thank you, Amedeo Avogadro.

Winter break coming up...best wishes for the coming year!