Voilà, optical activity : Both enantiomers of 1‐chloroindene have been synthesized in high selectivity from solely achiral starting materials, and without using optically active catalysts (see scheme). These symmetry‐breaking syntheses provide a proof‐of‐concept for a new approach to asymmetric synthesis. NCS=N‐chlorosuccinimide.
Going through the phases : The title reaction was found to proceed by an initial base‐mediated isomerization to allenyl esters and subsequent phase transfer catalyzed alkylation at the α position of the ester (see scheme).
Sensitized photolysis : We describe a series of macrocyclic disulfides containing stiff stilbene (see scheme) as the intramolecular photosensitizer designed for fundamental mechanistic studies of sensitized photolysis of the S? S bond. Preliminary studies revealed weak temperature dependence of the quantum yields, which decreased exponentially with Boltzmann‐weighted average separation between the S? S bond and stiff stilbene.
Drugs turn the light off : Conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) have been used in fluorescent assays for real‐time screening of small molecules that prevent the RNA–protein complexation that is important for virus replication and thereby can be considered potential initial candidates for drug discovery (see picture).
