New way to produce important molecular entity

Chemists at the University of Münster develop method for simple production of vicinal diamines. The chemists use blue light to produce unsymmetrically structured vizinal diamines. WWU - AG Glorius Among the most common structures relevant to the function of biologically active molecules, natural products and drugs are so-called vicinal diamines - in particular, unsymmetrically constructed diamines. Vicinal diamines contain two functional atomic groups responsible for the substance properties, each with a nitrogen atom bonded to two neighbouring carbon atoms. A team led by Frank Glorius of the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Münster has now presented a new, direct way to produce vicinal diamines in the journal "Nature Catalysis". In contrast to other, less suitable methods, the process does not require the use of transition metals and iodine reagents as catalysts. Instead, the researchers use light energy to produce the desired diamines from various electron-rich aromatic hydrocarbons (arenes and heteroarenes).