A Tamed Reactive Intermediate

摘要

For more than 100 years (1), chemists have hypothesized unobserved intermediates in reaction schemes-seemingly invisible chemical spirits that explain the experimental facts. Often, such species are the key to understanding entire areas of chemistry. Indirect evidence may point to their existence, but their high reactivity shortens their lifetime and prevents isolation. Under particular circumstances, reactive intermediates have been isolated and characterized, but establishing the existence of an entirely new class of intermediates is rare indeed. The isolation of a novel reactive intermediate by Rupar et al. on page 1360 of this issue (2) is thus a remarkable and exciting achievement.