Photochemical reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide using sulfite and ferrocyanide

2018124 citationsJournal Articlehybrid Open Access

Authors

Jianfeng Xu · MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Dougal J. Ritson · MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Sukrit Ranjan · Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Zoe R. Todd · Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Dimitar Sasselov · Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

John D. Sutherland · MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Abstract

Photoredox cycling during UV irradiation of ferrocyanide ([FeII(CN)6]4-) in the presence of stoichiometric sulfite (SO32-) is shown to be an extremely effective way to drive the reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to simple sugars and precursors of hydroxy acids and amino acids.

Topics & Keywords

Photoreceptor and optogenetics research Molecular Sensors and Ion Detection Origins and Evolution of Life

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Clean water and sanitation

Publication Details

Published in: Chemical Communications

Volume 54, Issue 44, pp. 5566-5569

DOI: 10.1039/c8cc01499j

Field-Weighted Citation Impact: 5.97