Rice chemists use iron, sulfur and purple light to replace palladium in carbon-carbon bond reactions

Rice University researchers have developed a new organic synthesis method that uses iron, sulfur, and purple light to add carbon groups to carbon-carbon double bonds. The approach relies on carboxylic acid as a temporary helper, avoiding palladium and other rare metals typically used in this type of reaction. That makes the process cheaper, faster, and less dependent on environmentally costly catalysts. The method could lower the environmental footprint of making pharmaceutical intermediates and other organic chemicals. It produces only a small amount of carbon dioxide as waste, and the carboxylic acid can be washed away after the reaction. The team published the work in Nature Catalysis. Scaling it beyond the lab would require more data on energy use and cost per kilogram, but it is a promising step toward greener chemical manufacturing.