Textbook chemistry gains blue-light upgrade to build complex drug molecules in fewer steps

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Add as preferred source A University at Buffalo study used visible light to help build more complex drug molecules in a fewer steps. The method involves blue LED lights activating a catalyst inside solution. Credit: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki/University at Buffalo In drug discovery, building complex molecules quickly is the name of the game.

Chemists want molecules with increasingly three-dimensional atomic structures because they may be more potent and selective inside the body, but the additional chemical steps needed to build that complexity cost time and money.

As it turns out, molecular complexity can be built in fewer steps using some surprisingly simple tools: off-the-shelf blue LED lights and a commercially available chemical building block familiar to sophomore organic chemistry students.