ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong

🧪 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎!

ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong successfully organized an Outreach Program at Durgapur Nagendra Chandra High School to inspire students through the fascinating world of chemistry.

Through interactive chemistry demonstrations, students explored how scientific concepts apply to everyday life, making science more engaging and accessible beyond textbooks. The program also highlighted the importance of science education, curiosity-driven learning, and the opportunities available in STEM fields.The enthusiasm and active participation of the students were truly inspiring and reflected the value of such initiatives in promoting scientific awareness among young learners.

We sincerely thank our respected Co-Advisor Dr. Kamrul Hossain Sir, the school authorities, and all executive and general members of ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong for their support in making this program a success.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆! 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀. 🌟

ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong successfully conducted an Outreach Program at 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍, 𝑴𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒊, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎, with the aim of promoting chemistry and demonstrating its practical applications in everyday life.

The event was honored by the presence of our respected Co-Advisor, Kamrul Hossain Sir, the Head Teacher of Moliaish High School, and the executive members and general members of ACS Student Chapter, CU. Through engaging chemistry demonstrations, students experienced the fascinating world of chemistry beyond textbooks and witnessed how scientific concepts come to life through experiments.

Through such initiatives, ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong continues its commitment to inspiring young minds, fostering scientific curiosity, and encouraging students especially in rural communities to explore the world of chemistry and STEM

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The Hidden Battle with LL‑37: How Bacteria Outsmart Our Immune System?

Meet LL‑37—a powerful antimicrobial peptide that protects your lungs from harmful bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of pneumonia and serious infections.

How does LL‑37 attack?
LL‑37 works like a microscopic weapon by:
✔ Breaking bacterial membranes
✔ Disrupting cell wall formation
✔ Targeting internal proteins
✔ Strengthening immune response
But here’s the twist… bacteria are not easily defeated.

🦠 How Bacteria Fight Back?
Even after an attack, bacterial growth only drops by about 20%, meaning many survive and adapt.

They use smart survival strategies:
🔹 Surface Modification – change outer structure so LL‑37 can’t bind
🔹 Efflux Pumps – actively push LL‑37 out
🔹 Stress Response – repair damage and produce protective proteins
🔹 Gene Regulation – quickly adjust gene expression to survive

🔬 What Science Reveals?
Research shows 50+ proteins change inside the bacteria during this battle—affecting metabolism, transport systems, and virulence.
This means bacteria don’t just resist… they adapt and evolve.

🌍 Why This Matters?
✅ Similar survival mechanisms are found in many bacteria
✅ These adaptations contribute to antibiotic resistance
✅ Understanding them helps scientists design better treatments

🌍 World Environment Day 2026 🌱

On this World Environment Day, ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong reaffirms its commitment to promoting environmental awareness and sustainable practices.

A healthy environment is the foundation of a prosperous future. As students, researchers, and responsible citizens, we all share the responsibility of protecting our planet through conscious actions, sustainable choices, and collective efforts.

Let us work together to reduce pollution, conserve natural resources, and inspire positive environmental change within our communities.

Small actions today can create a greener, cleaner, and more sustainable tomorrow.

Happy World Environment Day!

ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong

Eid-ul-Adha Mubarak from the ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong

Eid-ul-Adha teaches us the timeless beauty of sacrifice - the courage to give up what we cherish for a greater purpose, the strength to uphold faith, and the compassion to share our blessings with others.

May this sacred occasion inspire us to embody selflessness, humanity, and devotion in every step of our lives. Just as every meaningful sacrifice carries the power to create hope and harmony, may your sacrifices be honored with endless peace, prosperity, and success.

May your sacrifices be richly rewarded and your days be filled with joy, prosperity, and countless blessings.

Wishing you a joyful, blessed, and spiritually fulfilling Eid.
Eid Mubarak!

💭Have you ever dropped your phone and thought, “Why can’t this just fix itself?”
What if I told you…materials that can heal on their own already exist?
Not repaired,not replaced but heals.
Sounds futuristic right? But it’s already happening.Now the curiosity is,what are these materials?

They’re called self-healing polymers, advanced smart materials designed to automatically repair damage such as cracks, scratches or small breaks without any external repair or replacement. Inspired by natural biological systems, they don’t just fix damage they restore their structure and functionality.
They achieve this through built-in healing mechanisms either by releasing stored healing agents or by reforming reversible chemical bonds allowing them to recover strength and continue functioning as if nothing happened.

⚙️ Now comes the real question,”How can something non-living repair itself?”
The answer lies in two fascinating strategies, almost like giving materials their own “healing superpowers”. These are:

01. Extrinsic Healing (Capsule-Based)
Tiny microcapsules filled with healing agents are embedded within this process.
When damage occurs the capsules break and liquid flows into the crack hardening and sealing it.
Though it sounds simple and effective
but unfortunately it can only work once.

2. Intrinsic Healing (Reversible Chemistry)
Instead of carrying healing agents, the material itself is designed to heal.
It contains dynamic chemical bonds that can break and reconnect. In this process,
when damage happens the bonds break then reform and the material heals.
That means it can heal again and again

🔗 Types of interactions involved here are:
• Hydrogen bonding
• Metal–ligand interactions
• Dynamic covalent bonds (like Diels–Alder)

⚗️ Key chemistry behind it:
•Polymer crosslinking
•Reversible reactions
•Supramolecular chemistry
•Thermodynamics & molecular mobility

🌍Now you might be wondering, “Why does this even matter?”
So the real-world impact would be:
• Automotive: Scratch-healing coatings
• Electronics: Self-repairing screens & circuits
• Construction: Crack-resistant materials
• Biomedical: Hydrogels, tissue engineering
• Aerospace: Durable composite materials

And this isn’t just theory…
Scientists have already developed self-healing hydrogels, smart polyurethanes and capsule-based systems.Some can recover up to 90% of their strength after damage. Though it’s a bit challenging,we are moving toward a sustainable future where materials don’t just exist,they adapt,they respond and they heal🍀✨️

The ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong is immensely proud to announce that three scientific abstracts submitted by our exceptional chapter leaders have been officially accepted for presentation at the prestigious ACS Fall 2026 meeting.

Our leadership has demonstrated exemplary research acumen, securing acceptance for three distinct papers:

Two Abstracts: Authored by our esteemed Former President, Ashraful Hasan.

One Abstract: Authored by our dedicated Current General Secretary, MD Miraj Hossain.

The ACS National Meeting & Exposition is one of the world's premier scientific platforms, organized by the American Chemical Society which is going to be held in Chicago, Illinois, USA from August 23-27, 2026. It serves as a premier global forum for unveiling pioneering research, driving innovation, and fostering collaboration across all disciplines of the chemical sciences.

Representing the University of Chittagong at this elite international forum is a monumental milestone. It reflects the high standard of academic rigor fostered within our chapter and highlights the dedication of our leaders to advancing global scientific knowledge.

Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations to our brilliant leaders for elevating ACSCU on the international stage. We wish them the absolute best as they prepare to present their work in Chicago.

The ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong successfully organized the “Tree Plantation and Cleaner Earth Campaign” with the aim of promoting environmental awareness and encouraging sustainable practices among students.

We were honored by the presence of our respected Co-Advisor, Dr. Md. Kamrul Hossain, whose participation and encouragement greatly inspired the initiative.

Through this campaign, volunteers actively participated in tree plantation and cleanliness activities around the campus, reflecting our shared commitment to building a greener, cleaner, and more sustainable future.

The ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong extends sincere gratitude to all participants and volunteers for their enthusiastic contribution and support in making this campaign successful.

Scientists have achieved a stunning breakthrough in chemistry: they can now turn methane (natural gas) directly into real medicines using a simple iron‑based catalyst and LED light. 🌱💡 This is a major step forward because methane is not only a cheap, abundant resource but also a powerful greenhouse gas, so using it as a building block for drugs instead of burning it could help fight climate change at the same time. 🌍⚡️

Q1. Why this is a big deal? 🔬

Until now, most medicines are made from complex petrochemical feedstocks that come from oil. These processes often involve many reaction steps, harsh conditions, and expensive, rare metals like palladium or platinum. This new method skips many of those steps by starting directly from methane (CH₄), the simplest hydrocarbon, and building up more complex molecular structures from it. That means fewer raw materials, less waste, and a more efficient route to important medicines. 🧪➡️💊

Q2. How the reaction works? ⚙️

At the heart of the breakthrough is a special iron‑based catalyst that absorbs light from LEDs. 🌟 When light hits the catalyst, it helps break the very strong carbon–hydrogen bond in methane, which is normally extremely difficult to activate. This creates highly reactive radical intermediates that can then be used to “grow” larger molecules.

In recent experiments, researchers have used this system to attach small chemical “handles” (like allyl groups) to the methane fragment. These handles allow chemists to continue building more complex structures step by step, ultimately forming drug‑like cores that can be turned into active pharmaceutical ingredients. In one high‑profile example, they were able to make dimestrol, a compound used in hormone‑therapy treatments, directly from methane in a much shorter sequence than traditional routes. 💉🩺



Q3. Why iron and light matter? 🦾💡

Using iron instead of rare metals is one of the most exciting aspects. Iron is abundant, inexpensive, and generally less toxic than precious metals, so replacing them with iron makes the process more sustainable and cheaper over time. The fact that the catalyst works with LED light also matters because light is a clean, tunable energy source that avoids some of the harsh conditions (very high temperature or pressure) often needed in industrial chemistry.

This combination of earth‑abundant iron + light energy fits into a broader trend in modern chemistry: using cheap, common materials and gentle conditions to make valuable chemicals in a way that’s kinder to the environment. 🌿

Environmental and industrial impact 🌎🏭

Because methane is a major greenhouse gas, often flared (burned off) at oil fields and biogas plants, this technology could help turn waste methane into something useful instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. In the future, such processes could be integrated into gas‑processing plants or biogas facilities, short‑circuiting the usual path from fossil fuel to pollutant and redirecting it toward high‑value products like medicines, plastics, or specialty chemicals.

For the pharmaceutical industry, this means a more sustainable and potentially cheaper supply of key building blocks. It also opens the door to new molecular designs that were previously too hard or too expensive to access.

What this means for the future 🚀

Overall, this breakthrough shows how modern chemistry can combine simple, abundant materials (methane + iron) with smart catalyst design and light energy to solve two big problems at once:

- Making medicines more efficiently and cleanly,

- And reducing the climate impact of methane use.

References:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260227071916.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11744741/

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aea0783

Md. Alamin Bin Rafiq
Department of Chemistry
University of Chittagong

🎉 Celebrating Growth, Leadership, and New Beginnings! 🎉

The ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong is proud to announce the promotion of several dedicated members to new leadership positions within our chapter.

Their commitment, consistency, and active contribution to ACSCU have earned them well-deserved advancement across different leadership tiers, including Associate Executive, Junior Coordinator, and Chapter Ambassador.

These promotions reflect not only recognition of past efforts but also trust in their potential to lead, inspire, and contribute even more to the growth of our chapter.

We warmly congratulate all the promoted members and wish them continued success in their new roles. Your journey with ACSCU is a reflection of passion, responsibility, and leadership.

May this new chapter bring greater opportunities, stronger teamwork, and impactful achievements for both you and our community.

Congratulations once again to all our promoted members—we are proud to grow together.

—
ACS Student Chapter, University of Chittagong