Carbon quaternization of redox active esters and olefins by decarboxylative coupling. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38574151/)

These scientists wanted to find an easier way to make certain types of carbon molecules that are really important in chemistry. Normally, making these types of carbon molecules is really hard and requires a lot of complicated steps and special chemicals.

But these scientists found a way to use a special combination of a catalyst (a substance that helps make chemical reactions happen) and a reductant (a substance that helps with reducing reactions) to change two simple chemicals, carboxylic acids and olefins, into a specific type of carbon molecule called tetrasubstituted carbons.

They used an iron porphyrin catalyst to help the chemicals react together and form the new carbon molecules. This new method makes it much easier to create these important carbon molecules from basic chemicals, without needing to go through all the usual difficult steps.

Gan XC., Zhang B., Dao N., Bi C., Pokle M., Kan L., Collins MR., Tyrol CC., Bolduc PN., Nicastri M., Kawamata Y., Baran PS., Shenvi R. Carbon quaternization of redox active esters and olefins by decarboxylative coupling. Science. 2024 Apr 5;384(6691):113-118. doi: 10.1126/science.adn5619. Epub 2024 Apr 4.