Chirality-flipping reaction could completely change total synthesis strategies

A photo of a molecular model of drimane, a bicyclic natural product, sitting on top of a mirror on a velvet red background

Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry

Photocatalytic reaction that inverts configuration of chiral carbon centres offers new stereochemical editing logic

Researchers have developed reaction that converts chiral molecules into the opposite stereoisomer. It works on unactivated stereocentres that until now have been difficult for chemists to target, which could alter the way in which chemists plan their total syntheses.