Unlocking the Mystery of Cyclic Allenes
The team figured out a way that might make creating lissodendoric acid A go faster.
Chemists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have made an artificial version of a molecule found in sponges. This new molecule, called lissodendoric acid A, can fight against molecules that are bad for DNA, RNA, proteins and even entire cells. Scientists think this might help people who have diseases like Parkinson’s disease.
A team of researchers recently found a new way to make molecules for pharmaceutical studies. They used an unusual, previously forgotten substance known as cyclic allene to control the reactions needed to turn it into something usable. This discovery may help create other complicated molecules and was published in the journal Science.
Neil Garg, the professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, said that a lot of medicine is made using synthetic organic chemistry. He and his team are researching how this process can be used to create new medicines quickly, as well as build molecules with complex structures which could help the world.
Garg mentioned that a tricky issue which makes synthesizing these organic molecules hard is called “chirality”. Molecules like lissodendoric acid A can occur in two different shapes. Those shapes are exactly the same but they’re like right and left hands, as if they were mirrored. Each shape is known as an enantiomer.
When scientists make certain molecules for medicine, one of them can be helpful and the other one might either not do anything or it could even be really bad. The problem is that the lab usually makes a mixture of both types and it takes extra work to get rid of the type that we don’t want so it’s more expensive and takes more time.
Garg and his team found a way to quickly and easily make the enantiomer of lissodendric acid A, which is only found in nature. To do this, they used cyclic allenes – molecules discovered in the 1960s – in a 12-step reaction process. This was the first time ever that these highly reactive compounds were used for something so complicated.
Garg said that we don’t hear much about “Cyclic Allenes” nowadays even though they have been around for over 50 years. This is because they have very uncommon shapes and only stay around for a little bit of time when created.
The team figured out how to make use of the new compounds’ special features to create a certain type of cyclic allene molecule, which then resulted in chemical reactions that could only produce one particular version of the lissodendoric acid A!
Scientists have figured out how to make a molecule called lissodendoric acid A. This could be useful for people who work in medicine and make new treatments for illnesses. Also, the way scientists made this new molecule can help other scientists who are doing similar research.
We have figured out how to make a particular type of molecule called cyclic allenes, which can be used for making advanced molecules like lissodendoric acid A. We hope this discovery will help others to create new medicines!
