Work of Professor Cibulka's team featured on the cover of Chemical Science journal

Professor Radek Cibulka's laboratory has long been trying to develop systems that would facilitate chemical reactions, and thus the ways how to easily synthesize some drugs or other useful substances. The prestigious journal Chemical Science has now published a new system for chemical reductions based on deprotonated flavins, derivatives of vitamin B2. The system was developed as part of a collaboration between teams from the University of Chemical Technology, Prague and Adam Mickiewicz University within LA project from Czech Science Foundation and National Science Centre (Poland).
 
"We feel like builders. Removing one component (a proton) from a molecule of almost colourless 3-methyllumichrome - a substance related to flavins - causes structural changes that lead to the formation of an orange flavin anion. This flavin anion is unique because its protonated form does not exist. Moreover, we used this anion as a catalyst for reductions. All you have to do is shine cyan light on it and the reduction takes place." says Radek Cibulka.