The discovery of a new type of molecular carbon allotrope, known as cyclocarbon, has been a long-standing challenge for chemists. A team of researchers from Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry, led by Dr Yueze Gao and senior author Professor Harry Andersen, have successfully synthesized a stable 48-atom carbon ring in solution at room temperature. This achievement marks a significant breakthrough in the field, as previous attempts to study cyclocarbons were limited to the gas phase or extremely low temperatures (4 to 10 K).

The researchers employed a unique approach by synthesizing a cyclocarbon catenane, where the C48 ring is threaded through three other macrocycles. This design increases the stability of the molecule, preventing access to the sensitive cyclocarbon core. The team developed mild reaction conditions for the unmasking step in the synthesis process, which allowed them to achieve a stable cyclocarbon in solution at 20°C.

The cyclocarbon catenane was characterized using various spectroscopic techniques, including mass spectrometry, NMR, UV-visible, and Raman spectroscopy. The observation of a single intense 13C NMR resonance for all 48 sp1 carbon atoms provides strong evidence for the cyclocarbon catenane structure.

Lead author Dr Yueze Gao stated that achieving stable cyclocarbons in a vial at ambient conditions is a fundamental step, making it easier to study their reactivity and properties under normal laboratory conditions. Senior author Professor Harry Andersen added that this achievement marks the culmination of a long endeavor, with the original grant proposal written in 2016 based on preliminary results from 2012-2015.

The study also involved researchers from the University of Manchester, the University of Bristol, and the Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. This collaborative effort demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary research in advancing our understanding of complex molecular systems.

This achievement has significant implications for future studies on cyclocarbons and their potential applications in various fields. The researchers’ innovative approach to synthesizing stable cyclocarbons at room temperature opens up new possibilities for exploring the properties and reactivity of these intriguing molecules.

Chemists have made a groundbreaking breakthrough in developing a novel method to generate highly useful chemical building blocks by harnessing metal carbenes. This achievement is expected to revolutionize the synthesis of life-saving drugs and materials development.

Typically used in chemical reactions essential for drug synthesis, carbenes are short-lived, highly reactive carbon atoms. However, creating these carbenes has been a challenging task due to limited methods and hazardous procedures.

Researchers at The Ohio State University have now developed an approach that makes producing metal carbenes much easier and safer. According to David Nagib, co-author of the study and distinguished professor in arts and sciences, “Our goal all along was to determine if we could come up with new methods of accessing carbenes that others hadn’t found before.”

The team’s innovative method uses iron as a metal catalyst and combines it with chlorine-based molecules that easily generate free radicals. This combination works to form the carbene of their choice, including many that had never been made before.

These three-sided molecular fragments, known as cyclopropanes, are vital to the synthesis of medicines and agrichemicals due to their small size and unusual energy. The researchers’ work was inspired by looking for the best ways to create these shape, which is one of the most common found in medicines.

“Our lab is obsessed with trying to get the best methods for making cyclopropanes out there as soon as possible,” said Nagib. “We have the eye on the prize of inventing better tools to make better medicines, and along the way, we’ve solved a huge problem in the carbene world.”

The study was recently published in Science, and the team’s discovery is expected to become extremely impactful. By accessing a new way of creating and classifying carbenes, scientists can simplify and improve the current wasteful, multistep process of producing them.

For consumers, this method suggests that future drugs developed by this technology may be cheaper, more potent, faster-acting, and longer-lasting. The work could prevent shortages of important medicines like antibiotics and antidepressants, as well as drugs that treat heart disease, COVID, and HIV infections, said Nagib.

Additionally, the team would like to ensure that their transformational organic chemistry tool is accessible to both big and small research labs and drug manufacturers around the world. One way to guarantee this is by continuing to improve the current technique, said Nagib.

“Our team at Ohio State came together in the coolest, most collaborative way to develop this tool,” he said. “So we’re going to continue racing to show how many different types of catalysts it could work on and make all kinds of challenging and valuable molecules.”

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In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and the University of Texas at Austin have uncovered a form of molecular motion that defies conventional understanding. When guest molecules penetrate droplets of DNA polymers, they don’t diffuse haphazardly; instead, they propagate through them in a clearly-defined frontal wave.

“This is an effect we didn’t expect at all,” says Weixiang Chen, a leading researcher from the Department of Chemistry at JGU. The findings have been published in Nature Nanotechnology, and the implications are significant.

In contrast to traditional diffusion models, where molecules spread out randomly, the observed behavior of guest molecules in DNA droplets is structured and controlled. This takes the form of a wave of molecules or a mobile boundary, as explained by Professor Andreas Walther from JGU’s Department of Chemistry, who led the research project.

The researchers used thousands of individual strands of DNA to create droplets, known as biomolecular condensates. These structures can be precisely determined and have counterparts in biological cells, which employ similar condensates to arrange complex biochemical processes without membranes.

“Our synthetic droplets represent an excellent model system for simulating natural processes and improving our understanding of them,” emphasizes Chen.

The intriguing motion of guest molecules is attributed to the way that added DNA and the DNA present in the droplets combine on the basis of the key-and-lock principle. This results in swollen, dynamic states developing locally, driven by chemical binding, material conversion, and programmable DNA interactions.

The findings are not only fundamental to our understanding of soft matter physics but also relevant to improving our knowledge of cellular processes. “This might be one of the missing pieces of the puzzle that, once assembled, will reveal to us how cells regulate signals and organize processes on the molecular level,” states Walther.

This new insight could contribute to the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, where proteins migrate from cell nuclei into the cytoplasm, forming condensates. As these age, they transform from a dynamic to a more stable state and build problematic fibrils. “It is quite conceivable that we may be able to find a way of influencing these aging processes with the aid of our new insights,” concludes Walther.