New Wittig reaction pathway proves old dog can learn new tricks

What began as an effort to improve an established reaction has led to the discovery of an entirely new pathway in chemistry.

Christian Hering-Junghans and Torsten Beweries, leading a team at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis, have overturned long-held assumptions about the Wittig reaction – a process that has been fundamental to chemistry for nearly a century. This breakthrough also introduces a new way to create triazabutadienes, a class of molecules with applications in synthesis, biochemistry and polymer chemistry.