Salts containing ortho-phosphite anions have now been synthesised by mechanochemically reducing phosphate compounds.

A Less Hazardous Means to Create Phosphorus Compounds: Scientists have identified a precursor that helps convert phosphorus into a range of useful compounds, all the while bypassing the need for ...

Carbon, with its myriad compounds, is the backbone of life and the central element of organic chemistry. The number of bonds a carbon atom forms with other elements in a compound determines its ...

Tetrahedranes are highly strained hydrocarbons with tetrahedral cores. Such molecules could serve as high-energy materials and building blocks, but they are difficult to make and isolate. To make the ...

IN isolated metathoraxes of the cockroach Periplaneta americana, 85 per cent of the mass of which is formed by the thoracic muscles, changes in various fractions of acid-soluble phosphorus compounds ...

ONE of the most fascinating problems of organic chemistry consists in the attempt to prepare compounds the molecules of which are devoid of planes of symmetry, and are therefore capable (like a screw ...

Phosphorus is found in everything from matches to fertilizer—and may be critical to starting the spark of life and keeping it going. Scientists studying the origin of life in the universe often focus ...

Phosphorus is a critical raw material that should be recycled more efficiently. There is also a need for more environmentally friendly production methods for organic phosphorus compounds. A recently ...

Chemists have long been enamored with nitrogen fixation, the process nature employs to help plants capture atmospheric nitrogen and convert it to ammonia for use as a nutrient. Besides the famous ...

Meghan Bartels is a science journalist based in New York City who covers the science happening on the surface of Earth. She can be reached via email. We tend to think of life as being about carbon and ...

Plants need phosphorus, an essential nutrient, to grow. This nutrient is present in fertilizers and applied to crops to increase their yields. One downside of too much phosphorus in this agricultural ...