Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found a simple technique to transform everyday chemicals such as carboxylic acids, alcohols, and alkanes straight into valuable alkenes.
Alkenes are essential for manufacturing common items like plastics, synthetic rubber, and refined chemicals, proving to be vital in contemporary chemistry and industry. Despite advancements in the production of alkenes, finding an easy and adaptable method to convert a diverse array of starting materials into alkenes has been a significant hurdle. This challenge arises because current methods for creating olefins often rely on aldehydes, ketones, or existing alkenes as their starting points.
Recently, Associate Professor Wu Jie and his research team from the NUS Faculty of Science’s Department of Chemistry, along with Professor Zhao Yu from the same department, unveiled an innovative solution. This research was done in partnership with Professor Ma Jun-an from Tianjin University in China. Their novel approach merges two established chemical processes—photocatalytic radical addition and Norrish type II reaction—into a unified operation driven by light. The team utilized a readily available and reusable chemical known as vinyl ketone as the “olefination reagent” for synthesizing alkenes. By adjusting the reaction conditions involving vinyl ketone, they improved the process while reducing undesirable side reactions.
The results of this study were released in the journal Nature Chemistry.
This adaptable method makes it easier to produce valuable alkenes from readily available feedstocks like carboxylic acids, alcohols, and alkanes, which were previously challenging or impossible to obtain. What sets this method apart is its effective one-pot operation, the broad range of starting materials it can accommodate, and its capability to streamline the synthesis of complicated bioactive substances. Additionally, late-stage on-demand olefination of multifunctional compounds can be performed through selective radical formation from acids, alcohols, or alkanes. This new approach serves as a useful alternative to traditional olefination techniques, marking it as a significant addition to the research resources available for alkene synthesis.
Assoc Prof Wu stated, “As highlighted in our research paper, this technique offers a straightforward way to generate useful alkenes from various starting materials. In the future, we aim to broaden the application of this method to include even more types of feedstock chemicals and to investigate the control of alkene shape. We believe our findings will serve as an important asset in pharmaceutical and agricultural research.”
