Scientists develop cHAT to simplify the reduction of alkenes to more useful intermediate molecules for drugs and other useful chemical compounds.

Rice University scientists have developed a method to reduce alkenes, molecules used to simplify synthesis, to more useful intermediates for drugs and other compounds via a dual-catalyst technique known as cooperative hydrogen atom transfer, or cHAT.

The process enables the hydrogenation of alkenes, hydrocarbons that contain a carbon-carbon double bond, in a simpler and more environmentally friendly way.

The work by Rice chemist Julian West and postdoctoral researcher Padmanabha Kattamuri is detailed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In each step, a catalyst contributes a single electron and a proton. The cHAT twist is that both reactions happen in one synergistic process, the second catalyst taking over as soon as the first is done.

«The fundamental reaction of hydrogenation is super useful for making molecules,» said West, who joined Rice last year with funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). «There are a few elements that are really good at this, and can do a lot of different transformations, but they’re very expensive and not the most sustainable.»

Because cHAT employs Earth-abundant iron and sulfur as catalysts, it costs far less than industry-standard methods that rely on expensive noble metals like platinum, palladium, gold and silver, as well as hydrogen gas and oxidizing reagents that create toxic waste.

Story Source: Materials provided by Rice University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.