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Molecular ratchets

Synthesis goes uphill

Coupling an exergonic process with an orthogonal, endergonic one has opened the door to drive artificial systems away from equilibrium. Now, this concept is used to bias the outcome of an uphill chemical reaction.

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Fig. 1: The Diels–Alder reaction of furanacetic acid with acrylic acid powered by a chemical fuel.

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Correspondence to Job Boekhoven.

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Stasi, M., Soria-Carrera, H. & Boekhoven, J. Synthesis goes uphill. Nat. Synth (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00515-7

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