A major addition to chemists’ toolkit for building new molecules
— Read on phys.org/news/2021-06-major-addition-chemists-toolkit-molecules.html

A breathtaking “#GameChangerConvergences,#OorganicChemestry,#Chemical-Engineer

Chemists at Scripps Research have solved a long-standing problem in their field by developing a method for making a highly useful and previously very challenging type of modification to organic molecules. The breakthrough eases the process of modifying a variety of existing molecules for valuable applications, such as improving the potency and duration of drugs.

The flexible new method, for “directed C-H hydroxylation with molecular oxygen,” does what only natural enzymes have been able to do until now. It’s described in a paper this week in Science.

“We expect this method to be adopted widely for building potential new drug molecules and for modifying and even repurposing existing drugs,” says principal investigator Jin-Quan Yu, Ph.D., the Bristol Myers Squibb Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research. Yu also is the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry.