Chemists have taken another major step in the quest to use carbon-hydrogen bonds to create new molecules, a strategy that aims to revolutionize the field of organic synthesis. The journal Nature is publishing the work by chemists at Emory University. They demonstrated the ability to selectively functionalize the unreactive carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds of an alkane without using a directing group, while also maintaining virtually full control of site selectivity and the three-dimensional shape of the molecules produced. 

"The catalyst control we have found goes beyond what has been achieved before," says Huw Davies, an Emory professor of organic chemistry whose lab led the research. "We've designed a catalyst that provides a huge shortcut for how chemists can turn a simple, abundant molecule into a much more complex, value-added molecule. We hope this gives people a fundamentally new view of what can be achieved through C-H functionalization."

The first author of the Nature paper is Emory chemistry graduate student Kuangbiao Liao.

The streamlined process described in the paper holds tremendous potential for the synthesis of fine chemicals, such as those needed for the development of pharmaceuticals. 

"Organic synthesis is all about simplicity," Davies says. "It may lead to a sophisticated outcome, but it has to be simple to carry out in order to have practical applications."

Davies is also director of the National Science Foundation's Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF), which is based at Emory and encompasses 15 major research universities from across the country, as well as industrial partners.