Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a new way to alter complex drug molecules using light rather than toxic chemicals – a discovery that could accelerate and improve how medicines are designed and made. 

Published today (Thursday 12 March) in Nature Synthesis, the study introduces what the team calls an “anti-Friedel–Crafts” reaction. A classic Friedel–Crafts reaction uses strong chemicals or metal catalysts under harsh experimental conditions. This means the reaction can only happen in the early stages of drug manufacturing, and is followed by many additional chemical steps to produce the final drug. 

The new Cambridge approach reverses that pattern, allowing scientists to modify drug molecules at the final stages of production. 

Rather than relying on heavy metal catalysts, the chemistry is powered by an LED lamp at ambient temperature. When activated, it triggers a self-sustaining chain process that forges new carbon–carbon bonds under mild conditions and without toxic or expensive chemicals.

In practical terms, this means chemists can make targeted changes late in the development of a new or existing drug rather than dismantling and rebuilding complex molecules from scratch – a process that can otherwise take months. 

“We’ve found a new way to make precise changes to complex drug molecules, particularly ones that have been exceptionally difficult to modify in the past,” said David Vahey, first author and a PhD researcher at St John’s College, Cambridge.

“Scientists can spend months rebuilding large parts of a molecule just to test one small change. Now, instead of doing a multistep process for hundreds of molecules, scientists can start with their hit and make small modifications later on.”

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers have uncovered evidence for our Sun joining a mass migration of similar “twins” leaving the core regions of our galaxy, 4 to 6 billion years ago. The team created and studied an unprecedentedly accurate catalogue of stars and their properties using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite. Their discovery sheds light on the evolution of our galaxy, particularly the development of the rotating bar-like structure at its center.

Current crystalline thin-film production techniques typically require specific growth substrates, posing significant challenges for their use in flexible electronics and integrated optoelectronics. To address this, Scientist in China have developed a novel “induced fit growth” method inspired by molecular biology, enabling universal growth of Ga-based semiconductor films on arbitrary substrates. This approach facilitates applications in large-scale transistor arrays, synaptic transistors, omnidirectional and flexible photodetectors, paving the way for next-generation wearable electronics and neuromorphic computing systems.

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) have led an international collaboration to study how semiconductor materials enable the production of green hydrogen through (photo)electrochemistry. Novel atomic-level simulations and precise (spectro)electrochemical experiments reveal the basic mechanisms underlying the hydrogen evolution reaction on a prototypical titanium dioxide semiconductor and support the development of new materials for hydrogen production. The research also identified a previously unknown phenomenon in electrocatalysis: the application of an electrode potential can create local charge centers, polarons, which activate the hydrogen evolution reaction on the semiconductor surface. 

POSTECH · University of Oxford · Northwestern University, highlighting research trends in photonic nanomaterials and smart healthcare.

Researchers from the Institute of Modern Physics have observed an isomer in the rare, extremely neutron-deficient nucleus of ytterbium-150 for the first time, leading to the identification of a unique "isomeric relay" mechanism that advances our understanding of nuclear structure.

Impossible to study experimentally, and previously thought too complex to model computationally, researchers have successfully simulated the behavior of a fluid containing 100,000 particles, each with mass and volume, as it mixes with a clear fluid on a 3D grid of hundreds of millions of points over millions of steps. This computational breakthrough has already led to the discovery of novel fluid behaviors and lays a new foundation for studying fundamental physics in fields ranging from astronomy to meteorology, and for discovering engineering solutions in chemical refining, environmental protection, wastewater treatment, and beyond.