Discoveries at Hartlepool

Discoveries at Risk

New discoveries at the interface of boron and carbon chemistries*

The continued growth of polyhedral borane chemistry is illustrated by the successful synthesis of [closo-B12(OH)12] 2– by the H2O2 oxidation of [closo-B12H12] 2–. The hydroxylated species reacts with common organic reagents to produce 12-fold degenerately substituted carboxylate esters, ethers, and carbamate esters. The ether derivatives undergo facile and reversible redox reactions in which th...

From the Workshop of Discoveries From the Workshop of Discoveries

Monument to the discoveries.

A week ago I was standing with my wife by the River Tagus in Lisbon, next to the Monument to the Discoveries. The monument is at the spot where Vasco da Gama set out to discover the southeast passage from Europe to Asia, past the Cape of Good Hope. Vasco’s discovery marked the beginning of the Portuguese maritime empire. At the furthest tip of Europe, Portugal was perfectly situated to found su...

Discoveries in shRNA Design

To successfully apply RNAi, the very first step is to design functional siRNA or shRNA sequences targeting specific genes. Many characteristics of functional synthetic siRNAs have been identified, but it remains questionable if these characteristics can be equally applied to the design of functional shRNAs. Our three-phase algorithm was developed based on the characteristics of functional siRNA...