1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (USA), Fax: (+1)?1‐608‐890‐2583 http://www2.biochem.wisc.edu/raines;2. Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706 (USA)
Abstract:
In 1919 H. Staudinger and J. Meyer reported the reductive fragmentation of an azide to an amine. In their Communication on page 2359 ff., E. L. Myers and R. T. Raines report the complementary reaction—cleavage of the other N? N bond in an azide to yield a diazo compound. Both transformations rely on a reagent that contains PIII. The painting, The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, by J. Wright (1771), depicts the discovery of phosphorus by H. Brandt in 1669 (cover art by H. A. Steinberg).
