In June 2018, a potentially carcinogenic nitrosamine impurity, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), was detected in valsartan, a medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Soon after, NDMA and further small dialkyl N-nitrosamine impurities were discovered in other sartan active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and later in stomach acid regulator ranitidine, and diabetes medicines piaglitazone and […]

Researchers in Switzerland have used a combination of reaction informatics tools to compare pairs of molecular structures by considering how to transform one into the other.1 While some pairings entailed feasible transformations, others required multiple and complex structural rearrangements. The team likened the second set of transformations to alchemical transmutations , to emphasise their complexity. […]

Selective cross coupling of carbonyls to form alkenes, especially non-symmetrically, is an important reaction in organic synthesis. However, only a few methods are available and none provide efficient cross-selectivity in carbonyl–alkene reactions. Now, an international team has introduced two strategies for cross-metathesis of carbonyls, enabling carbene-to-ylide transfer and di-metalation to make alkenes. David Nagib at […]

After tens of thousands of postdoctoral and graduate student researchers at the University of California (UC) system went on an unprecedented strike lasting more than a month they were ecstatic when they eventually won substantial pay increases and other benefits late last year. Their example went on to inspire other higher education workers across the […]

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will implement a policy that requires grant holders to monitor the lab notebooks, raw data and all documentation underpinning research carried out by collaborators based outside the US. The policy is slated to take effect from 1 January, 2024, despite researchers’ concerns that it may represent overreach by the […]

Europeans are exposed to levels of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) that surpass acceptable health thresholds, according to new analysis released by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The levels of total urinary BPA for 92% of the adult participants from 11 European countries exceeded the European Food Safety Agency’s (EFSA) safe level of 11.5 […]

What was once Scotland’s most radioactive beach has been re-opened to the public, after a multi-million-pound clean-up operation. Contractors have been sifting through 10,000m3 of sand and soil – the equivalent of four Olympic swimming pools of material – at Dalgety Bay in Fife since 2021 in a bid to identify particles of radium-226 and […]

With less than two weeks to go until the 2023 chemistry Nobel prize is announced, Web of Science provider Clarivate has published its annual list of citation laureates – researchers whose work ranks among the 0.01% of most highly cited publications, with 2000 citations or more. This year, the list includes 23 researchers from institutions […]

The Royal Society Career Development Fellowship will open to applications from scientists with Black heritage – a largely underrepresented group in UK Stem academia – this November with the aim of kickstarting their research careers. Up to five fellowships will be awarded in the first year to outstanding candidates who are completing or have recently […]

No, she bleedin’ weren’t! That was my buddy the HISTSCI_HULK expostulating whilst he was indulging in his annoying habit of peering over my shoulder whilst I’m reading. She never was! That’s simply wrong! Hulky was getting his nickers in a twist about the following claim: Hypatia was by all accounts, a fine astronomer and a […]