Novel Approach In Analysis Of Chemical Oxygen

Thursday, 18 November 2010 17:02

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Researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada have developed a new method of analyzing the chemical oxygen inside larger molecular systems. The novel method is quite suitable and could be very useful for studying DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes and other molecules.

Studying the structures of DNA and RNA could yield a lot more insight into how the human genome functions, and may help researchers understand genetic diseases better than ever before. For example, determining how proteins and enzymes interact with themselves and each other is a critical step for developing new drugs and therapies.

Primarily all the larger molecules are made of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.  All of these elements, with the exception of oxygen, are analyzed with the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology. The wavelengths of oxygen are very difficult to detect using this approach.

“Oxygen signals were so weak, so to speak, that no one could make use of them,” explains Gang Wu, a QU professor of chemistry also a leader in this research. “Now there is a way of detecting them even in complex biomolecular systems,” he explains.

Using equipment at the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids, in Ottawa, the group was able to produce magnetic fields that were strong enough to allow for the detection of the wavelengths of oxygen. The facility contains one of the strongest NMR spectrometers ever built, and the researchers used the machine to modify the oxygen in the molecules via a technique called isotope enrichment.
The detailed study and its results were published in the last issue of the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie. There the scientists leading the research explain that now the “amplified oxygen” can be studied in details and its wavelengths can be easily detected with NMR.