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Catalysis

Triumph of a chemical underdog

Nature volume 452, pages 415–416 (2008)Cite this article

In the fable of the tortoise and the hare, the reptilian slowcoach beats its fleet-footed rival in a race. A zinc catalyst recreates this story by giving a less reactive chemical group a turn of speed over a rival group.

Ranking the inherent reactivity of chemical groups was crucial for propelling organic chemistry into the realms of rational science. This groundwork was achieved over the course of many decades, and a basic knowledge of which groups react faster than others is still essential today. But can the reactivity of chemical groups be tinkered with, so that, in a molecule containing several groups, the less-active ones react before the more reactive? Reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Ohshima et al.1 report a remarkable catalyst that can reorder the reactivity of two common chemical groups — a revelation that is certain to inspire chemists everywhere.

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Figure 1: Selective reactions with a zinc catalyst.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gorka Peris and Scott J. Miller are in the Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8107, USA. scott.miller@yale.edu,

    Gorka Peris & Scott J. Miller

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  1. Gorka Peris
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  2. Scott J. Miller
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Peris, G., Miller, S. Triumph of a chemical underdog. Nature 452, 415–416 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452415a

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