(Phys.org)—A team of researchers at Princeton University and a Bristol-Myers Squibb associate have developed a means for creating reactive ammonium radical cations using flashes of blue light. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes their new technique and the ways they believe it could be used to create substituted amines. Travis Buchanan and Kami Hull with the University of Illinois offer a Perspectives piece on the work done by the team and the expected impact the new technique is likely to have on organic chemistry.