One-pot method generates chiral amides from secondary alcohols with retention of stereochemistry and provides evidence for non-planar carbocations

New Route to Chiral Amides

P4 Activation with Silylenes
Activation of white phosphorus with silylenes gives two unusual Si–P compounds that could be precursors for semiconducting materials

New Method for Adding Alkyl Groups
New method for adding methyl groups to aldehydes gives the highest enantioselectivities and yields reported and can be used for longer alkyl chains

Light Vortex
Simply stirring a gelled solution of dye can result in circularly polarized luminescence

Molecular Remodeling
A diverse library of compounds for pharmaceutical screening can be created starting with a single reactive natural product, according to US chemists

Switching On And Off the Chemical Light
Hindered photochromic benzo- and naphtho[1,3]oxazines can switch rapidly between colorless and colored forms under ultraviolet irradiation

Green and Efficient HMF Production
Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from fructose with a yield of up to 87 %

The B-Class Gets Some Class-A Help
Designing small-molecule ligands for class B GPCRs despite the lack of structural information for this receptor class

Recycling Catalysts by Precipitation
Simple way to recover and reuse chiral copper bis(oxazoline) complexes reported by French researchers

Synthesizing Rigid Bicycles
Polyprenylated polycyclic acylphloroglucines which have a range of activities can now be synthesized in just seven steps