Researchers at the new DNRF center, Carbon Dioxide Activation Center (CADIAC) at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center and the Department of Chemistry have devised a new CO₂ fixation methodology for the synthesis of multicyclic variants of the indole ring system. This class of nitrogen heterocycles has frequently been referred to as “privilege structures” as they represent an important structural fragment in many pharmaceuticals currently on the market with a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The team consisting of PhD student Zhuo Xin and postdocs Dr. Camille Lescot and Dr. Stig Friis in the group of Professor Troels Skrydstrup along with Professor Kim Daasbjerg discovered a catalytic system, whereby the catalyst is a simple organobase, not requiring expensive metals as is typically the case in many transition-metal catalysed transformations. This is the first time a man-made organocatalyst has been exploited for promoting simultaneous carbon–carbon and carbon–oxygen bond formation with carbon dioxide. The research group is quite excited about this finding because of the simplicity of the set-up, as well as the fact that little is known about this activation mechanism. The potentials for this new type of CO₂ activation and fixation are currently being assessed in other synthetic applications.

(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201500233/abstract)