To path indicator Subpages of “University“ To navigation by target groups To navigation by topic To quick access To footer with other services
To content
Sunset at the North Campus © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund
ADVANCE IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Research Team Synthesizes a New Class of Stable Organic Compounds

-
in
  • Research
  • Top News
  • Press Releases
Patrick Antoni (left) and Max Martin Hansmann (right) stand in front of a laboratory apparatus © TU Dortmund
Doctoral candidate Patrick Antoni (l.) and JProf. Max Martin Hansmann (r.) recently published their findings in the renowned scientific journal Nature Chem­is­try.
Scientists at TU Dortmund University have achieved an important advance in organic chemistry: They have managed to isolate and characterize a new highly reactive organic compound at room temperature. Their findings were recently published in the renowned scientific journal Nature Chemistry.

In organic chemistry, scientists synthesize new organic molecules and characterize their chemical and physicochemical properties. The material properties and reaction behavior are essentially determined by functional groups, which can consist of different elements: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), sulfur (S), phosphorus (P), and halogens. One example is the hydroxyl group (-OH) of the alcohols. For most of the functional groups, synthesis and reactivity have already been thoroughly investigated. But there are also functional groups that are so reactive that the compounds cannot be isolated at room temperature. Previously, one such highly reactive molecule class was the class of diazoalkenes (R2C=C=N=N). Because of their high reactivity, they are very difficult to synthesize and typically are only “stable” at temperatures of a few Kelvin. Therefore they had been characterized in organic chemistry only at very low temperatures, until now.

By taking advantage of an unusual synthesis route and an electronic trick, the research group led by JProf. Max Hansmann at TU Dortmund University has now managed to isolate and characterize the first compound with such a functional group at room temperature. To do this, they activated laughing gas (N2O), a molecule that is normally very difficult to activate, and transferred the nitrogen it contains to a special compound, an ylidic polarized olefin. “It is amazing that such a functional group based on carbon and nitrogen, two elements so central to organic chemistry, had not been synthesized before,” says JProf. Hansmann. “The first-ever successful production of this molecule that is stable at room temperature opens up numerous interesting reactions, which bring with them in turn a wide range of possible applications.” In the future, for instance, the results of this project in fundamental science could potentially have an impact on the development of new drugs or materials.

JProf. Hansmann’s team collaborated with other partners on this project: To unambiguously verify the molecular structure of the diazoalkene using X-ray diffraction, Hansmann’s team was supported by Dr. Christopher Golz from the University of Göttingen and Dr. Julian Holstein of TU Dortmund University. In addition, Dr. Dimitrios Pantazis from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim contributed by using quantum chemical methods to conduct a more detailed analysis of the electronic structure.

Original publication in Nature Chemistry

Contact for further information:

 

Back

To top of page