Researchers synthesize healing compounds in scorpion venom

To find out more about each compound, Possani reached out to Zare’s group at Stanford, which has a reputation for identifying and synthesizing chemicals. Using clues gleaned from running the compounds through various chemical analysis techniques, the Stanford scientists concluded that the color-changing ingredients in the venom were two previously unknown benzoquinones – a class of ring-like molecules known to have antimicrobial properties. Zare’s lab sent a batch of the newly synthesized benzoquinones to Rogelio Hernández-Pando, a pathologist at the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition in Mexico City, whose group tested the lab-made compounds for biological activity.

Source: news.stanford.edu