Although they are among the most versatile building blocks of organic chemistry, compounds called carbenes can be too hot to handle. In the laboratory, chemists often avoid using these highly reactive molecules because of their explosive character.
Yet in a new study published today in the journal La scienceOhio State University researchers present a new, safer way to turn these high-energy, short-lived molecules into much more stable molecules.
“Carbohydrates contain an incredible amount of energy,” said study co-author David Nagib, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State. “The value of that is that they can do chemistry that you can’t otherwise. »
In fact, Nagib Lab members specialize in harnessing reagents with such high chemical energy and have helped invent a host of new substances and techniques that would otherwise be chemically unobtainable.
In this study, the researchers developed catalysts made from inexpensive, Earth-abundant metals, such as iron, copper, and cobalt, and combined them to facilitate their new method of carbene mining.
They were able to successfully use this new strategy to harness the power of reactive carbenes to manufacture valuable molecules on a larger scale and much faster than traditional methods. Nagib compared that leap to engineers figuring out how to use steel to build skyscrapers rather than brick and mortar.
For example, one molecular feature that chemists have struggled to create is cyclopropane, a tight little ring of twisted chemical bonds found in some drugs. More recently, cyclopropane has been used as a key ingredient in the oral antiviral pill called Paxlovid. Used to treat COVID-19, the pill reduces the severity of the disease by preventing the virus from replicating, rather than killing it outright.
Although the cyclopropane needed to make the drug was difficult to create in large quantities, Nagib said he believes his lab’s new method might be applied to create the drug faster and on a larger scale. “Our new method will allow better access to dozens of types of cyclopropanes to be incorporated into all kinds of drugs to treat disease,” he said.
Although the team’s research has potential applications outside the pharmaceutical field, such as agrochemicals, Nagib said he was most passionate regarding how their tool might accelerate the discovery of new targeted drugs. “You might technically apply our methods to anything,” he said. “But in our lab, we’re more interested in access to new, more potent types of drugs. »
Nagib predicts that using the process developed by his team, a chemical reagent that currently takes 10 or 12 steps to make (by explosive intermediates) might be made in four or five, reducing manufacturing time by almost 75%. .
Overall, Nagib said he hopes this research will help other chemists do their job.
“There are a lot of really great scientists around the world doing this kind of chemistry and by using our tool they might potentially have a safer lab,” Nagib said. “The flavor of the science we do, the most satisfying reward is when other people use our chemical methods to improve important molecules. »
Other co-authors were Lumin Zhang, a former postdoctoral fellow, and Bethany M. DeMuynck, Alyson N. Paneque, and Joy E. Rutherford, all graduate students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and members of the Nagib Lab. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation.
Source of the story:
Materials provided by Ohio State University. Original written by Tatyana Woodall. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
