{"id":121000,"date":"2023-01-17T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T06:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=121000"},"modified":"2023-01-12T09:18:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T08:18:31","slug":"electrochemistry-converts-carbon-to-useful-molecules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/electrochemistry-converts-carbon-to-useful-molecules\/","title":{"rendered":"Electrochemistry converts carbon to useful molecules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

In the process, the team made an innovative discovery. By changing the type of electrochemical reactor, they could produce two completely different products, both of which are useful in medicinal chemistry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s paper, \u201cElectrochemical Reactor Dictates Site Selectivity in N-Heteroarene Carboxylations<\/a>,\u201d published Jan 5 in Nature. The paper\u2019s co-lead authors are postdoctoral researchers Peng Yu and Wen Zhang, and Guo-Quan Sun of Sichuan University in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cornell team, led by\u00a0Song Lin<\/a>, professor of chemistry and chemical biology\u00a0in the College of Arts and Sciences, has\u00a0previously used the process<\/a> of electrochemistry to stitch together simple carbon molecules and form complex compounds, eliminating the need for precious metals or other catalysts to promote the chemical reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the new project, they set their sights on a more specific target: pyridine, the second-most prevalent heterocycle in FDA-approved drugs. Heterocyles are organic compounds in which the molecules\u2019 atoms are linked into ring structures, at least one of which is not carbon. These structural units are considered to be \u201cpharmacophores\u201d for their frequent presence in medicinally active compounds. They are also commonly found in agrochemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers\u2019 goal was to make carboxylated pyridines, i.e., pyridines with carbon dioxide appended to them. The advantage of introducing carbon dioxide to a pyridine ring is that it can change a molecule\u2019s functionality and potentially help it bind to certain targets, such as proteins. However, the two molecules are not natural partners. Pyridine is a reactive molecule, while carbon dioxide is generally inert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are very few ways of directly introducing carbon dioxide to a pyridine,\u201d said Lin, the paper\u2019s co-senior author, along with Da-Gang Yu of Sichuan University. \u201cThe current methods have very severe limitations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lin\u2019s lab<\/a> combined its expertise in electrochemistry with Yu\u2019s group\u2019s specialization in utilizing carbon dioxide in organic synthesis, and they were able to successfully create carboxylated pyridines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElectrochemistry gives you that leverage to dial in the potential that is sufficient to activate even some of the most inert molecules,\u201d Lin said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we were able to achieve this reaction.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s serendipitous discovery emerged while they were conducting the electrosynthesis. Chemists typically run an electrochemical reaction in one of two ways: in an undivided electrochemical cell (in which the anode and cathode that supply the electric current are in the same solution) or in a divided electrochemical cell (whereby the anode and cathode are separated by a porous divider that blocks large organic molecules but allows ions to pass through). One approach may be more efficient than the other, but they both produce the same product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin\u2019s group found that by switching from a divided to an undivided cell they could selectively attach the carbon dioxide molecule on different positions of the pyridine ring, creating two different products: C4-carboxylation in the undivided cell and C5-carboxylation in the divided cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first time we discovered that by just simply changing the cell, what we call the electrochemical reactor, you completely change the product,\u201d Lin said. \u201cI think that mechanistic understanding of why it happened will allow us to continue to apply the same strategy to other molecules, not just pyridines, and maybe make other molecules in this selective but controlled fashion. I think that\u2019s a general principle that can be generalized to other systems.\u201d<\/p>

While the project\u2019s form of carbon dioxide utilization is not going to solve the global challenge of climate change, Lin said, \u201cit\u2019s a small step towards using excessive carbon dioxide in a useful way.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Co-authors included postdoctoral researcher Yi Wang and doctoral student Zhipeng Lu; and researchers from Sichuan University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cornell research was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Eli Lilly, Cornell and the Sloan Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the process, the team made an innovative discovery. By changing the type of electrochemical reactor, they could produce two completely different products, both of which are useful in medicinal chemistry. The team\u2019s paper, \u201cElectrochemical Reactor Dictates Site Selectivity in N-Heteroarene Carboxylations,\u201d published Jan 5 in Nature. The paper\u2019s co-lead authors are postdoctoral researchers Peng […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"A chemistry collaboration led to a creative way to put carbon dioxide to good \u2013 and even healthy \u2013 use: by incorporating it, via electrosynthesis, into a series of organic molecules that are vital to pharmaceutical development","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[19659,19121,21602,16062,10743],"supplier":[1166,20444,15489],"class_list":["post-121000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-convertco2","tag-electrochemical","tag-electrosynthesis","tag-reactor","tag-useco2","supplier-cornell-university-usa","supplier-nature-journal","supplier-sichuan-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121000"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=121000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}