Credit: Photo courtesy of The Scripps Research Institute.
Scripps Research Institute chemists have invented a practical new method for building complex molecules that uses simple, non-toxic iron-based catalysts and can be conducted in minutes open to the air even in a shot glass of alcoholic spirits. The team includes (left to right) Jinghan Gui, Chung-Mao (Eddie) Pan, Phil Baran, Yuki Yabe and Julian Lo; here, Gui and Lo are holding molecular models, and Baran holds the actual iron catalysts.