Skeletal editing targets double bonds

Scheme

Source: © Zengrui Cheng et al/Science/AAAS

Two new techniques selectively install nitrogen atoms into complex molecules

Straightforward skeletal editing chemistry now enables the direct insertion of nitrogen into carbon–carbon double bonds. Exploiting two different aspects of alkenes’ reactivity, researchers in Switzerland and China have independently developed ways to cleave double bonds and install nitrogen atoms in a range of simple substrates and complex bioactive molecules.