Chemists make ‘impossible’ molecules that break 100-year-old bonding rule

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For the first time, chemists have made a class of molecules previously thought too unstable to exist, and used them to generate exotic compounds1. Scientists say these notorious molecules, known as anti-Bredt olefins (ABOs), offer a new path to synthesizing challenging drug candidates.

The work is “a landmark contribution”, says Craig Williams, a chemist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. The findings are published in Science.

Organic molecules, which contain carbon, typically conform to specific shapes because of the way their atoms bond together. For instance, olefins, also called alkenes — hydrocarbons that are often used in reactions for drug development — have one or more double bonds between two carbon atoms, resulting in the atoms being arranged in one plane.

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03538-4