Breakthrough offers simple way to synthesise diverse triazabutadienes with a range of applications
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.