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Organic chemistry

No double bond left behind

Nature volume 531, pages 453–454 (2016)Cite this article

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Alkenyl halides are some of the most useful building blocks for synthesizing small organic molecules. A catalyst has now allowed their direct preparation from widely available alkenes using the cross-metathesis reaction. See Article p.459

The development of synthetic methods for chemical transformations is an ongoing challenge. Advances in this field have far-reaching effects on everyday life, because new transformations can streamline the preparation of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials. On page 459 of this issue, Hoveyda and colleagues1 describe just such an advance: a reaction that allows direct access to cis-substituted vinyl fluorides, chlorides and bromides, members of the alkenyl halide family of compounds that are of great value in organic synthesis.

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Figure 1: Cross-metathesis to make cis-alkenyl halides.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, David Sarlah is at the Roger Adams Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.,

    David Sarlah

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  1. David Sarlah
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Correspondence to David Sarlah.

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Sarlah, D. No double bond left behind. Nature 531, 453–454 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/531453a

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