Light - driven deracemization enabled by excited - state electron transfer

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2204
• Publication Date: 2019-10-17T23:09:16Z
• Authors: Nick Y. Shin; Jonathan M. Ryss; Xin Zhang; Scott J. Miller; Robert R. Knowles
• Keywords: Hydrogen atom

Charging through the looking glass Asymmetric catalysis is a commonly applied technique to prepare just one of two mirror-image products in chemical reaction. But what if you already have compound want, stuck mixture left- and right-handed enantiomers? Shin et al. now show that light-induced electron transfer can trigger favorable succession proton hydrogen-atom steps, both which are susceptible biasing by catalysts, preferentially convert cyclic urea enantiomers into (see Perspective Wendlandt). Science , this issue p. 364 ; see also 304