A breakthrough for organic reactions in water

    

Researchers have discovered a way of using water as a solvent in chemical reactions.

Over the past two decades, researchers have studied ways to replace traditional toxic solvents in the production of drugs in the water. Scientists at McGill University has done what was previously thought impossible. They found a way to use water as solvent in the reaction used to synthesize chemical products and pharmaceuticals. Researchers have successfully used water in metal-mediated reactions between carbonyl compounds and other halides.

Professor Lee and Dr. Zhou found that rhodium, a metal used in catalytic converters of cars, together with zinc as a mediator can make the reaction possible in water. This new technique bypasses a number of problems associated with the usual practice in carrying out this reaction, which is widely used in the synthesis of products of fine organic synthesis of biologically active molecules and pharmaceuticals. Traditional methods, discovered more than a century ago, require that moisture and air were carefully excluded from the process.

The new aqueous approach promises to "streamline synthetic sequences and make them safer and more effective," said Professor Lee.

Source: nauka24news.ru/