A new and efficient way to make β-lactams, the key components of common antibiotics such as penicillin, has been developed by US scientists.
The team made the β-lactams from simple aldehydes via a multi-component catalytic asymmetric aziridination reaction. The reaction is high-yielding, stereospecific and diastereoselective. It should aid new drug discovery.
Read the Chemical Science article in full:
Multifaceted Interception of 2-Chloro-2-Oxoacetic Anhydrides: A Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of b-Lactams
L Huang et al.
Chem. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2sc21240d
