Perhaps the most atom economical method for introduction of a carbonyl group into an organic substrate is to use carbon monoxide.1 Millions of tonnes of bulk chemicals are converted to various carbonyl-containing derivatives that are essential commodity products in daily life using this simple C1 unit year on year. Not surprisingly the molecule has a

One of the things I enjoy most about science, and chemistry in particular, is that even processes that are well understood and used routinely, almost without thinking about them, can be re-invented. The allure of discovering new reactions and being at the forefront of a completely new area of research attracts many academics and students,

The resurgence of peptide and protein-based therapeutics and the demand for chemical probes to elucidate complex biological pathways has driven the development of synthetic chemistry compatible with post translational modification and/or bioconjugation. The use of fluorine-modified biomolecules has enabled the 19F nucleus to be used in NMR experiments to study protein structure, dynamics and protein-ligand

Esomeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor developed by Astra Zeneca in 2001 and marked under the trade name Nexium. Esomeprazole is the S-enantiomer of omeprazole (the racemate) and is an example of the controversial so-called “chiral switch” in with single isomers are developed and marked as having improved pharmacodynamic or phmacokinetic properties over the originally

Medicinal chemists love introducing aromatic rings into their pharmacophores. These flat rings make important lipophilic and pi-stacking interactions with proteins and are good synthetic handles for attaching functionality to reach and bind to all the nooks and crannies of an active site. With the advent of cross-coupling chemistry and the simplicity and efficiency of transition

A highly diastereoselective chloride-ion driven dynamic kinetic resolution of a phosphinate ester- a key step in the synthesis of Fosdevirine Fosdevirine (or GSK2248761A, top figure) is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, originally discovered by Idenix pharmaceuticals for the treatment of HIV infection. The structure is somewhat unusual in that it contains a phosphorus stereogenic centre-