Researchers Develop Catalytic Chemical Method to Synthesize Carbon-Carbon Double Bonds

Researchers from Boston College and MIT have developed a novel catalytic chemical method to prepare a vital group of carbon-carbon double bonds.

The new findings significantly expand the usefulness of a set of metal-based catalysts identified by the researchers a few years ago.

The catalysts with molybdenum as their center have demonstrated their capability of producing higher-energy compound of an alkene molecule from two terminal versions. Carbon–carbon double bonds, also known as olefins or alkenes, exist in a number of biologically dynamic molecules. The researchers proved that the catalyst can generate a Z-selective "cross metathesis" response, also known as olefin metathesis reaction, which fuses two unlike alkene-containing molecules into a single molecule that produces only ethylene as byproduct.

The researchers established the usefulness of their catalytic process by producing a powerful antioxidant plasmalogen phospholipid and immunostimulant KRN7000. The former molecules are significant to cellular functions related to Alzheimer’s disease, while the latter can combat tumors, graft-versus-host disease and autoimmune disease in mice.