Chemistry breakthrough could help produce new drugs, molecules

Olefins are one of those molecules that most people don't recognize, but that appear all around us: in bottles, in medicines, in wetsuits and in tires. Now, University of Chicago chemists have discovered an efficient method to make a kind of olefin with four different attachments-used in everything from medicines to new ways to store data. In a paper published Nov. 18 in  Nature Chemistry,  four UChicago scientists laid out the breakthrough in making these molecules, called tetra-substituted olefins. With the new method, they can easily and precisely select up to four different attachments, like a mix-n-match IKEA shelving unit. Plus, their catalyst cuts the number of steps to make the compounds, e.g. from seven to just two or three. At least eight Nobel Prizes have been awarded for breakthroughs related to olefin molecules.