A team of chemists at Nankai University has developed a two-step approach to converting aliphatic amines into unnatural amino acids. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their approach, how well it worked, and applications that might benefit from its use. John Ovian and Eric Jacobsen with Harvard University have published a companion piece in the same journal issue outlining some of the obstacles to forging bonds with rich nitrogen reactants; it also describes the approach used by the team in China.
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Source: Phys.org