A research team led by Prof. Yiming Wang, faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, recently reported an exciting new method for the construction of carbon-carbon bonds between two readily available types of molecular building blocks: alkynes and allylic ethers. Published in a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, their method uses unusually mild conditions to activate and break a carbon-hydrogen bond, creating in the process a new approach to utilizing relatively unreactive alkyne starting materials in chemical reactions. Furthermore, the iridium catalyst used in the reaction carefully controls the spatial configuration of the groups in the newly formed molecules, allowing for the potential application of the new methodology in the synthesis of drug molecules and other biologically important compounds. Alongside Prof. Wang, the team contributing to the paper consisted of Ms. Jin Zhu, Dr. Yidong Wang, and Mr. Aaron Charlack.
Read more about the research here: