Brevity for bonds

摘要

Fashion design? Game-playing? Designing the shortest bond between two carbon atoms can seem to have elements of such apparently ephemeral pursuits. But it can also stretch the chemist's creativity. Carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds could be tailored shorter this coming season, according to Deborah Huntley and colleagues, who include the Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann. Their predictions appear in an unlikely fashion magazine, the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The authors highlight several ways to sport short bonds, but it will be no small task for manufacturers to bring these designs into reality.