Chemists use light to build biologically active compounds

Some of the most biologically active molecules, including synthetic drugs, contain a central, nitrogen-containing chemical structure called an isoquinuclidine. This core has a three-dimensional shape which means it has the potential to interact more favourably with enzymes and proteins than flat, two-dimensional molecules. Unfortunately methods to make isoquinuclidines and the related dehyrdoisoquinuclidines suffer from a number of drawbacks which make it more difficult for scientists to discover new medicinal compounds. A team of researchers led by Prof. Frank Glorius at the University of Münster have now published a new method of enabling this reaction. The study was published in the journal "Chem". Background and method: Several methods for the preparation of three-dimensional core structures involve the addition of another molecule across a flat structure. The internal bonds of both molecules are reorganised to create new bonds between them in a transformation called a cycloaddition.