Some chemical structures are more common in nature than others, making them more attractive to pharmacists. However, not all of them are easy to produce in the lab. American researchers have discovered a simple way to synthesize one of these structures, opening the way to the creation of new drugs.
We are talking about a carbocyclic system containing three conjugated rings with 5, 8, and 5 vertices. It is found everywhere in nature, including in biologically active substances. The structure forms the core of at least 30 compounds with a potential therapeutic effect.
Despite the prevalence of the structure in nature, it is not easy to synthesize artificially. Existing methods required an impractically long time, high temperatures, and catalysts based on transition materials. Scientists from Florida State University, whose work is described by Phys.org, managed to significantly simplify this process, reducing it to a few steps.
The researchers were also able to abandon expensive catalysts and the need to maintain high temperatures. It turned out that the formation of rings is just as successfully stimulated by ultraviolet radiation. As a result, chemists and pharmacists now have a simple and rapid way to synthesize carbocyclic structures of the 5-8-5 type in unlimited quantities.