Chemists harness light to build 3D molecular structures for drug discovery
Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), led by Professor Jian He and collaborators, have developed a new light-driven method for constructing three-dimensional molecular building blocks that could give medicinal chemists greater flexibility in designing new drug candidates. The approach broadens the range of starting materials that can be used while…
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have devised a novel method using light to construct intricate three-dimensional molecular structures, potentially revolutionizing drug discovery. Led by Professor Jian He, the team's innovative approach employs copper(I) photosensitizers activated by visible light to drive the synthesis of bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes (BCHs) from bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes (BCBs) and various alkenes.
This technique significantly broadens the range of starting materials and provides greater control over the placement of chemical groups on the BCH scaffold, overcoming limitations of traditional synthetic methods. The findings, published in Nature Chemistry, demonstrate gram-scale synthesis and the successful modification of resulting BCHs with diverse functional groups, highlighting the method's potential for developing more effective and diverse drug candidates.
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