It is one of the softest white pigments used by the industry. However, zinc sulfide turns gray over time if it is not appropriately pretreated. Chemists under the leadership of the Center for Nanointegration (CENIDE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) discovered a way to retain its brilliant color and also enable its use as a catalyst; for example, to convert sunlight into usable energy. The scientific journal "Advanced Functional Materials" covers the topic in its latest issue.

Green electricity should be available as soon as possible, at best from all power outlets: electrochemical processes are the basis for a sustainable energy, but they need new, high-performance catalyst materials. Theoretical calculations help to avoid dead ends and to focus on the most promising candidates. A chemist from the CRC 247 has decisively improved this performance prediction and has now received an award for his achievements. He published his work in the trade journal Electrochimica Acta.

It is called the "survival protein" because it plays a central role in the growth of cancer cells: survivin influences two important processes in the body's cells at the same time – cell death and cell division. Chemists and biologists from the CRC 1093 and CENIDE have now succeeded in developing a precise molecule that can bind the protein’s surface at a defined site and switch it off. "Nature Communications" covers the topic.

Anyone needing a tomography gets the clearest possible images of an organ or other body structure slice by slice. But the further inside the potential problem lies, the more difficult it is to obtain high-resolution images in magnetic resonance imaging. An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has developed a high-frequency coil that allows for much better range inside the body – among other advantages. The scientific journal "Nature Communications" covers the topic.

Group 13/15 heteroalkenes RMER' with M-E double bonds (M = B-Tl; E = N-Bi) offer promising potential for bond activation reactions, but they are difficult to prepare. A team led by CENIDE professor Stephan Schulz now describes new synthetic methods for group 13 metallapnictenes in no less than three articles in the journal "Angewandte Chemie". They allow for the preparation of preparative amounts as a basis for systematic reactivity studies.