Reaction cuts chemical production costs

The reaction creates phenolic compounds from aromatic hydrocarbons by replacing a hydrogen molecule on an aromatic hydrocarbon with an oxygen molecule.

This discovery could prove useful for the production of agricultural chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs, with phenolic compounds used in disinfectants, fungicides and drugs.

UTA assistant professor Dionicio Siegel said: “This is a chemical transformation that is underdeveloped and at the same time pivotal in the production of many chemicals important to life as we know it.”

There are no special conditions. You just combine the reagents, mix them and go

Assistant professor Dionicio Siegel

Phthaloyl peroxide, the substance used in the team’s research, has the ability to react without the need of acids or catalysts and it can add oxygen to a wide variety of starting materials.

On discussing the difficulty faced when using the novel compound, Siegel stated: “There are no special conditions. You just combine the reagents, mix them and go. It’s very simple and straight forward.”

Described in the journal Nature, the discovery has the potential for application within other areas, particularly in creating metabolites to drugs and agricultural chemicals.

Siegel and his team have been working alongside chemical companies to make the compound accessible for use within the chemical research and pharmaceutical industries.

The UTA team is applying its research in an effort to develop reactive agents that could expand the scope of chemicals that can be transformed.