Beware non-benign alkyne

Alkynes will probably feature a lot in this blog due to their bioorthoganol nature – but beware, as a recent paper demonstrates, everything can change in the local environment of a protein.

The Peterson olefination

There are many different ways to synthesise alkenes in organic synthesis. The problem in many cases, especially those in macrocycles or non-cyclic systems is getting good E/Z selectivity. Several methods are possible however, one of the simplest is the peterson olefination. The reaction allows control of E/Z selectivity by the conditions used to remove the silane.  

Synthetic polymers self-assembling into catalytic structures

Modern organic chemists have access to a huge range of different chemical reactions and, these days, even the most complicated natural product could probably be synthesised if somebody wanted to. However, nature still does chemistry a hell of a lot better than even the best organic chemist; enzymes allow even the simplest organism to catalytically (and often asymmetrically) carry out organic reactions at room temperature in an aqueous environment. Being able an enzyme’s characteristics artificially would be, obviously, hugely advantageous. And there are a number of project on-going particularly using supramolecular chemistry, dendrimers or polymers. Another method, one of the first in a completely aqueous environment, has been described in a short communication in Angerwandte by the Palmans group. It utilises a simple polymer functionalised with L-proline allowing it to diastereoselectively catalyse an aldol reaction with cyclohexanone and p-nitrobenzaldehyde.