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Sir Fraser Stoddart is awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry Northwestern University News Center
October 05, 2016
Stoddart became one of the few chemists to have opened up a new field of chemistry during teh past 25 years. His work on molecular recognition and self-assembly and his subsequent introduction of template-directed routes to mechanically interlocked molecules has changed dramatically the way chemists go about making soft materials.
Great Point Ventures
“I have been searching for several years for new types of compounds that could act as a salt replacement. Would you entertain a funded research project to explore this further?”
-- Aaron Mandell, Managing Partner, GreatPoint Ventures
FMC Health and Nutrition
“If you have not already done so, would you be interested in discussing potential food and pharma applications?”
-- Dr Brian Carlin, Director, FMC BioPolymer
UK Trade and Investment
“I have picked up on your recent work on nanostructures made from food grade materials. This would be valuable IP worthy of protection. I believe I could put you into contact with companies interested in the technology.”
-- Ken Johnston, R&D Specialist, UK Government Trade and Investment
The New York Times
“Crunchy bursts of flavor sound interesting. I’m going to get some gamma-cyclodextrin and see if I can cook up a batch”
-- Wiley Dufresne, Celebrity Chef
Chemistry World
“The fact that we can make high value materials from sugars is mind-blowing”
-- Professor Lee Cronin, University of Glasgow
Edible carbon dioxide sponge
A year ago Northwestern University chemists published their recipe for a new class of nanostructures made of sugar, salt and alcohol. Now, the same team has discovered the edible compounds can efficiently detect, capture and store carbon dioxide. And the compounds themselves are carbon-neutral.
Researchers Create Nanostructures, and Whip Up a Recipe, Too New York Times
September 06, 2010
In the latest step in science’s never-ending quest for tinyness, researchers at Northwestern University have made edible nanostructures.
“It tastes like starch,” said Ronald A. Smaldone, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern, speaking of the material, made with a sugar, a salt and 190-proof grain alcohol. “Kind of like a saltine cracker, I guess, without the salt.”
Edible nanostructures: Compounds made from renewable materials could be used for gas storage, food technologies
September 03, 2010
Sugar, salt, alcohol and a little serendipity led researchers to discover a new class of nanostructures that could be used for gas storage and food and medical technologies. And the compounds are edible. The porous crystals are the first known all-natural metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are simple to make. Most other MOFs are made from petroleum-based ingredients, but the new MOFs you can pop into your mouth and eat, and the researchers have.
Edible Nanostructures
September 02, 2010
Northwestern University News Center
Compounds made from renewable materials could be used for gas storage, food technologies. Sugar, salt, alcohol and a little serendipity led a Northwestern University research team to discover a new class of nanostructures that could be used for gas storage and food and medical technologies. And the compounds are edible.
Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks Made from Food-Grade Natural Products; Edible MOFs for Gas Storage and Other Applications
September 01, 2010
A team of researchers from Northwestern University, UCLA and the University of St. Andrews (UK) have developed new robust nanoporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) using a sugar—γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD), mass-produced enzymatically from biorenewable cornstarch—salt and alcohol.
Edible crystals could store hydrogen fuel
September 01, 2010
Mix together some sugar, a generous dose of alcohol, a dash of salt and a splash of water. It sounds like a recipe for an interesting night, but this mixture could one day be used to make a crystalline material for storing hydrogen in fuel-cell cars.
A simple tank is impractical for storing the amount of hydrogen needed to give a fuel-cell car a decent range: the tank would either need to be chilled to around -250 °C to hold the hydrogen in liquid form, or be enormous if a compressed gas is used.
So researchers have experimented with storing hydrogen inside molecular "cages", made from chains of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms linked by metal ions. These so-called metalorganic
frameworks (MOFs) only bond weakly with the hydrogen atoms they enclose, so the gas can be recovered simply by heating the material slightly.
A MOF you can scoff Royal Society of Chemistry
August 17, 2010
Chemists have accidentally discovered a new type of metal organic framework, or MOF, which is made from edible components. The materials needed to create the new structures are cheap, renewable and widely available and the conditions needed to create the frameworks are benign. That they can be made from molecules that are safe to eat could give the new compounds a role in the development of new food and pharmaceutical products.