Organic chemistry
The latest chemistry news and research on organic chemistry, including synthesis, natural products and total synthesis, reaction mechanisms and supramolecular chemistry, from the Royal Society of Chemistry's magazine, Chemistry World
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ResearchSimple technique makes it easier to access and exploit hydrogen radicals
Highly reactive hydrogen radicals generated using ultraviolet light and off-the-shelf reagents
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ResearchChemists break cycloaddition ‘rule-of-five’ by simply tweaking electronic properties of molecule
Changing the substituents on a dialkene molecule influenced which bicyclic product formed during a photocycloaddition reaction
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NewsHideki Shirakawa, who shared chemistry Nobel for discovering conductive polymers, passes away at 90
Collaboration with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger on doped polyacetylenes ushered in new field of electronics
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OpinionChemistry contains multitudes
There’s room (and need) for all the various subspecies of chemical scientists
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ResearchOrganocatalyst streamlines oligonucleotide drug synthesis
New reaction controls phosphorus stereochemistry during the synthesis of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides
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ResearchSimple reagent slices open phenol rings, converts them into various nitrogen-containing products
Strategy adds to the skeletal editing toolbox, creating flexible chains from flat arene rings
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ResearchShape-shifting MOF works wonders for heating and cooling across climates
A pressurised system self-regulates to trigger temperature changes without external electrical inputs
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ResearchUpdated Appel reaction finally fluorinates alcohols
Simple reaction allows access to wide range of fluorinated molecules, without using hazardous hydrogen fluoride
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ResearchUnexpected cyclisation provides easy access to elusive tetra-substituted THFs
A mix-and-match approach to substituted heterocycles
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ResearchPhotoredox catalyst introduces two nucleophiles across a carbon–carbon bond at once
Reaction also challenges the idea that C–X bonds can only undergo one-site transformations
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FeatureMolecular ratchets: unlocking the chemistry of biological motion
Motor proteins power everything from muscle contraction to bacterial swimming. While replicating their chemically fuelled directional motion in the laboratory has proved difficult, researchers are making progress and developing molecular ratchets and motors that do useful work
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WebinarOne goal, three industries: retrosynthesis for pharma, agrochemicals and flavours & fragrances
Explore the latest in expertly-coded retrosynthetic software, as we look at its performance across three different industries
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ResearchElusive crystal structure of borylnitrenes finally captured
In situ crystallography reveals a snapshot of a boron-bound nitrene
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ResearchHow a chance discovery overturned one of photochemistry’s oldest dogmas
The first hints of what’s behind the seemingly illogical mismatch between photochemical reactivity and absorptivity could finally end a team’s 10-year struggle to get their results taken seriously
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OpinionJonathan Clayden: ‘I like to feel that we have set the curriculum rather than followed the curriculum’
The co-author of the much-loved Organic Chemistry shares his insights on creating a chemistry textbook
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OpinionRewriting the textbooks – authors tell us how they do it
Peter Atkins, Catherine Housecroft and Jonathan Clayden guide us through the changing world of textbooks
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OpinionWhat kinds of reactions do you do most?
Variety may be the spice of life, but there’s space for the boring but effective
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ResearchMicrodroplet chemistry enables catalyst-free skeletal editing
Hydroxyl radicals power transformation of aniline into pyridine
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ResearchOne-step photochemical method switches nitrogen and carbon to convert pyrazoles into imidazoles
Transformation tolerates a broad range of functional groups while preserving the peripheral substitution of the heterocycle
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ResearchPEGylated ligands boost speed and selectivity in mechanochemical arylations
Study highlights the power of tailoring ligands to mechanochemical conditions