Catalysis in action (VIDEO)

Northwestern University

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This video shows a fleeting hemiacetal alkoxide intermediate, which the researchers, unprecedentedly, captured. The team also observed its reverse aldehyde elimination, generating an aldehyde and a molybdenum alkoxide intermediate.

This transformation — the conversion of an alkoxy ether to an alkoxide — represents a textbook example of a thermal E1cB-elimination reaction, which is expected to proceed with a very low energy barrier.

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Northwestern University

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