Issue 11/2021 - Successful synthesis of diazoolefin functional groups at room temperature

Recently, a research team led by Max Hansmann, a professor at the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany, successfully separated and characterized a new and highly reactive organic compound at room temperature, and the relevant results were published in
the journal Nature Chemistry.

In organic chemistry, the chemical properties of materials are basically determined by functional groups composed of
different elements.
At present, most functional groups have been extensively studied, and only a very few functional groups are difficult to synthesize
.
For example, scientists have synthesized diazoalkanes, but diazoolefins have never been found
.

In order to successfully prepare compounds containing diazoolefin functional groups, the research team of Dortmund University of Technology in Germany used an unusual synthetic route - activating N2O, which is usually difficult to activate, and transferring the nitrogen in it to a special compound, namely a polarly polarized olefin, and then clearly verified the molecular structure of diazoolefins by X-ray diffraction, and analyzed the electronic structure in detail using quantum chemical methods
.

The researchers said that the presence of stable diazoolefin functional groups opens up new avenues for the study of low-cost carbon and unsaturated carbenes, which may be conducive to the development of new drugs and materials in the future
.