http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/ Molecules: You'd Better Learn to Live With Them Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:43:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-9945 Mon, 25 Sep 2006 01:39:27 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-9945 [...] Anyway, saponification is extremely useful, especially for those fatty-acid salts we get out of them. Those salts have split personalities: one end is strongly attracted to water, and the other is strongly attracted to oil. (I’m oversimplifying, as I mentioned.) This means that these molecules are very good at lifting oils and other non-water-like things out of whatever they’re in and into the water, so you can wash them away. These bundles of molecules are called micelles. (Also MOTD, and also worth a look.) [...] […] Anyway, saponification is extremely useful, especially for those fatty-acid salts we get out of them. Those salts have split personalities: one end is strongly attracted to water, and the other is strongly attracted to oil. (I’m oversimplifying, as I mentioned.) This means that these molecules are very good at lifting oils and other non-water-like things out of whatever they’re in and into the water, so you can wash them away. These bundles of molecules are called micelles. (Also MOTD, and also worth a look.) […]

]]> http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-310 Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:03:38 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-310 [...] Herpes, is, of course, just another virus. I think the most common treatment is still acyclovir, a guanosine analogue and general antiviral. Docosanol is very, very different structurally, more like a soap (e.g., SDS or sodium laurate.) This no doubt contributes to the fact that it is OTC; most antivirals are analagous to antibiotics, in that resistance often develops. A virus, for example, can mutate, causing drugs that previously fit into its enzymes to cease to work. Docosanol works by a much more general mechanism that is thought to be less likely to provide selective pressure for resistant viruses. Its mechanism is thought to be analagous to a soap; modulating the structure of the plasma membrane of cells and the lipid envelope of the virus. It seems this works in a way that makes it work pretty well at keeping the virus from injecting its payload into human cells, noted here, for example. Here is also a bit of good background. See you tomorrow! [...] […] Herpes, is, of course, just another virus. I think the most common treatment is still acyclovir, a guanosine analogue and general antiviral. Docosanol is very, very different structurally, more like a soap (e.g., SDS or sodium laurate.) This no doubt contributes to the fact that it is OTC; most antivirals are analagous to antibiotics, in that resistance often develops. A virus, for example, can mutate, causing drugs that previously fit into its enzymes to cease to work. Docosanol works by a much more general mechanism that is thought to be less likely to provide selective pressure for resistant viruses. Its mechanism is thought to be analagous to a soap; modulating the structure of the plasma membrane of cells and the lipid envelope of the virus. It seems this works in a way that makes it work pretty well at keeping the virus from injecting its payload into human cells, noted here, for example. Here is also a bit of good background. See you tomorrow! […]

]]> http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-12 Thu, 04 May 2006 15:44:31 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-12 Thanks Matt. Fixed. Thanks Matt. Fixed.

]]> http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-11 Thu, 04 May 2006 15:42:22 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/05/04/sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-for-that-fresh-no-scum-feeling/#comment-11 I think you have a minor error in your "program I use to draw structures" link. It's taking me to the Wikipedia entry on DEET! I think you have a minor error in your “program I use to draw structures” link. It’s taking me to the Wikipedia entry on DEET!

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