A new chemical method that could speed up the creation of medicines, materials and products people rely on every day has been developed by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry researchers.
A new chemical method that could speed up the creation of medicines, materials and products people rely on every day has been developed by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry researchers. The work, published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a journal of the German Chemical Society, shows how common ingredients called aldehydes can be transformed into more complex molecules using visible light and a specialized catalyst.
Aldehydes are simple, widely available starting materials used across many chemical processes. Traditionally, turning them into useful advanced compounds requires multiple steps, harsh conditions or costly materials. The UH Mānoa team introduced a light-powered, energy-efficient approach that guides aldehydes through a controlled reaction, producing valuable molecular structures used in drug development, natural product research and chemical manufacturing.
The process relies on light and a specialized palladium catalyst to drive the chemical changes. It enables chemists to quickly and reliably make two useful types of molecules. The approach is also flexible, working on a wide range of starting materials, including complex molecules found in pharmaceuticals.
Read More at: University of Hawaii
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