Visible light triggers three-step cascade to make 3D drug-like molecules

A team led by chemist Frank Glorius, a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Münster, has developed a new light-driven reaction sequence.

In this triple catalysis, one reaction step triggers the next like three dominoes in a row, toppling one after the other.

The molecular transformations occur sequentially in a single reaction vessel.

Such one-pot synthesis is considered an ideal process because it is particularly resource- and energy-efficient.