Medical research

Drug screen points toward novel diabetes treatments

A drug currently in clinical trials as a cancer therapy can also stimulate pancreatic beta cells to secrete insulin, revealing a previously unknown mechanism for insulin regulation in type 2 diabetes, according to a new study ...

Neuroscience

Scientists reveal structures of neurotransmitter transporter

Neurons talk to each other using chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have drawn on structural biology expertise to determine structures of vesicular monoamine transporter ...

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Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions and that have a unique and defined chemical structure. Chemical compounds consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together in a defined spatial arrangement by chemical bonds. Chemical compounds can be compound molecules held together by covalent bonds, salts held together by ionic bonds, metallic compounds held together by metallic bonds, or complexes held together by coordinate covalent bonds. Substances such as pure chemical elements and elemental molecules consisting of multiple atoms of a single element (such as H2, S8, etc.) are not considered chemical compounds.

Elements form compounds to become more stable. They become stable when they have the maximum number of possible electrons in their outermost energy level, which is normally two or eight valence electrons. This is the reason that noble gases do not frequently react: they already possess eight valence electrons (the exception being helium, which requires only two valence electrons to achieve stability).

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