Chemists often wish they could reach into a test tube and physically force a chemical reaction — and now they’ve come pretty darn close. In a feat of molecular arm-twisting, researchers attached polymer chains to an extremely stable ring-shaped molecule and tore it in two (SN Online: 9/15/11). The new approach split the triazole ring, a compound found in many drugs and fungus-fighting chemicals, into its molecular building blocks, reversing the reaction that brought the ring together.
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