ChemCafé

After yesterday’s Nobel Prize in Physics which went to two relatively young researchers (Andre Geim* and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester) for a very recent discovery (graphene, isolated in 2004), today’s Prize in Chemistry went to much older people for discoveries made 40 years ago: Richard F. Heck (emeritus professor at the [...]

Following recent fears of a potential influenza pandemic, anti-viral drugs are receiving substantial media coverage. Among them is oseltamivir, marketed by Roche under the trade name Tamiflu. But, how is it working? What is the chemistry behind this strange name? What is a neuraminidase inhibitor? Here are some answers…
Tamiflu is often refered to as a [...]

Some time ago came to Lausanne Prof. Lanny S. Liebeskind from Emory University in Atlanta, co-inventor of the Liebeskind-Srogl coupling. This coupling allows the formation of a new C-C bond starting from a thioester and a boronic acid. The reaction usually requires catalytical palladium as well as a copper-based co-catalyst, but a variation using only [...]