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Molecule of the Week – recent from the chemical literature

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Articles in MotW

MotW16: Anticancer properties of Ruthenium(II) complexes
Submitted by on November 1, 2010 – 8:56 am | No Comment
MotW16: Anticancer properties of Ruthenium(II) complexes

Ruthenium(II) complexes of the general formula [(η6-arene)Ru(XY)Z]+ were studied for their anticancer properties in A2780 human ovarian cancer cells and A549 human lung cancer cells (Inorg. Chem. 2009, 48, 9444–9453, DOI: 10.1021/ic9013366). The specific arenes …

MotW 15: Promising Ruthenium Complexes as Anticancer Drugs
Submitted by on September 3, 2010 – 3:24 pm | No Comment
MotW 15: Promising Ruthenium Complexes as Anticancer Drugs

Organoruthenium complexes, of the form of [(η6-arene)RuII(YZ)X]+ (Inorg. Chem., 2008, 47, 11470–11486, DOI: 10.1021/ic801361m), are increasingly being studied for use in medicine. The arene is usually a phenyl derivative, YZ is usually a chelating ligand, …

If you are struggling with your Molecule of the Week topics…
Submitted by on September 1, 2010 – 6:08 pm | No Comment

Updated F 09.03.10 – As a reminder, you need to find three examples from the chemical literature (full papers, 2009 to present) that minimally include a molecular metal-ligand complex and a crystal structure. Send me …

MotW14 – A nonreducible, high-valent Mn(V) complex
Submitted by on October 18, 2009 – 8:11 pm | No Comment
MotW14 – A nonreducible, high-valent Mn(V) complex

Research involving the formation and characterization of high-valent Mn complexes has been slow. They are proposed to be active intermediates in biological and synthetic reactions, such as epoxidations and hydroxylations. They are also important intermediates …

MotW13 – A Potential Metal-Free Cancer Drug
Submitted by on October 3, 2009 – 2:08 pm | No Comment
MotW13 – A Potential Metal-Free Cancer Drug

Metal-DNA adducts are popular molecules for cancer treatment.  However, the metal-based drugs have been associated with unwanted side effects such as nausea, nephrotoxicity (toxicity to kidney cells), and myelosuppression (suppression of bone marrow activity).  Researchers …

MotW12 – potential prodrugs for Alzheimer’s disease
Submitted by on September 28, 2009 – 11:35 am | No Comment
MotW12 – potential prodrugs for Alzheimer’s disease

The molecule for this week comes from research out of the Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry Group at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and concerns altering pyridinone N-substituents to optimize activity as potential prodrugs for …

Molecule of the Week (11): Organometallic carbon-oxygen bond cleavage
Submitted by on September 1, 2009 – 6:11 pm | No Comment
Molecule of the Week (11): Organometallic carbon-oxygen bond cleavage

This article focuses on the synthesis of iron catalysts which are less toxic than those used in industry (Ryan J. Trovitch, Emil Lobkovsky, Marco W. Bouwkamp, Paul J. Chirik. Organometallics 2008 27, 6264-6278). Oxidative addition …

Molecule of the Week (10)
Submitted by on December 7, 2008 – 11:14 pm | No Comment
Molecule of the Week (10)

This week’s molecule comes from research at the University of Calabria, Italy about Pt(II) and Pd(II) complexes which may be active as anticancer agents (Pucci, D.; Bellusci, A.; Bernardini, S.; Bloise, R.; Crispini, A.; Federici, G.; …

MotW09 – Catalytic Decomposition of Water
Submitted by on December 1, 2008 – 8:51 am | No Comment
MotW09 – Catalytic Decomposition of Water

The molecule of the week comes from ongoing research by Dr. Randolf Thummel at the University of Houston (Zeping Deng, Huan-Wei Tseng, Ruifa Zong, Dong Wang, and Randolph Thummel. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 1835 – …

Molecule of the Week(08): Cytotoxicity of Platinum(II) Compounds
Submitted by on November 24, 2008 – 9:15 am | No Comment
Molecule of the Week(08): Cytotoxicity of Platinum(II) Compounds

The molecule of the week is fresh out of Leiden University in the Netherlands regarding the cytotoxicity of fluorescent platinum (II) compounds (Brouwer, J.; den Dulk, H.; Kooijman, H.; Marques-Gellego, P.; Reekijk, J.; Roubeau, O.; …

Trianionic Organoborate Triangles
Submitted by on October 27, 2008 – 5:22 pm | No Comment
Trianionic Organoborate Triangles

Scientists at the University of Melbourne in Australia are currently doing research on Trianionic Organoborate triangles (Abrahams, B.F.; Boughton, B.A.; Choy, H.; Clarke, O.; Grannas, M.J.; Price, D.J.; Robson, R, Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 10.1021). …

Mercury 101
Submitted by on September 30, 2008 – 11:15 am | One Comment
Mercury 101

So you’re working on your Molecule of the Week assignment and you’re looking at your molecule in Mercury and thinking Wow this is hideous. How am I going to make this look presentable? If you’re …

Molecule of the Week (06)
Submitted by on September 28, 2008 – 8:53 pm | 4 Comments
Molecule of the Week (06)

The molecule of the week originates from research at the Indian Institute of Science dealing with the photoactivation of oxovanadium complexes for photodynamic therapy (Sasmal, P.K.; Patra, A.K.; Nethaji, M. Chakravarty, A.R. Inorg. Chem. …

Molecule of the Week (05)
Submitted by on September 23, 2008 – 6:01 pm | One Comment
Molecule of the Week (05)

This week’s molecule comes out of recent research at Iowa State University focused on the catalytic activity of zirconium (IV) complexes involving a new class of scorpionate ligands (Dunne, J.F.; Su, J.; Ellern, A.; Sadow, …

More info on the Molecule of the Week assignment
Submitted by on September 22, 2008 – 5:27 pm | No Comment

After working through the assignment with a few test subjects (I mean beta testers! – thanks Nicole, Meghan, and Jon!), I’ve put together a more complete description.

Find an interesting molecule – it must contain a …

Why take it to the Next Level?
Submitted by on September 18, 2008 – 7:01 pm | No Comment

This website has been presented to me as a senior at Villanova Univeristy, someone who has taken a lot of undergraduate classes. I am a chemistry major, as are the other students in Dr. Kassel’s …

Molecule of the Week (04)
Submitted by on September 18, 2008 – 10:40 am | One Comment
Molecule of the Week (04)

The molecule of the week comes from an article that focuses on alpha-Ketocarboxylates and structural models for certain types of halogenases (Friese, S. J.; Kucera, B. E.; Young, V. G., Jr.; Que, L., Jr.; Tolman, …

Impressions about Molecule of the Week Assignment
Submitted by on September 16, 2008 – 5:41 pm | 3 Comments

Initally, I was intimidated by this assignment. I don’t read science journals on a daily basis – actually I don’t really read them ever – and I was weary about where to begin. However, I …