Nitrogen deletion reaction offers ‘new way to think about molecular editing’
Reagent inspired by decades-old research could save chemists a lot of headache when it comes to modifying molecules’ skeleton
US researchers have developed a chemical reaction that deletes nitrogen atoms in organic molecules, including in ring structures, connecting the carbon atoms on either side.1 In the first ever publication from Mark Levin’s University of Chicago laboratory, the chemists trigger the deletion with the help of an unusual electrophilic amide. The reaction offers ‘a new way to think about molecular editing’, says Levin.