Scientist proves theory chemists have waited two decades to understand

Groundbreaking research led by Simon Woodward,a professor of synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Nottingham, has proved how a catalyst (a small atomic-sized 'machine' that knits together new molecules) in organo-copper chemistry works. This is one of the key approaches of modern chemistry to making larger molecules. Scientific mystery The reaction, known as asymmetric conjugate addition, has been a mystery to scientists who have been trying to understand the mechanism by which certain aluminium-containing chemicals 'join together' for 20 years. Prof Woodward and his team carried out hundreds of experiments over five years, in a bid to understand how these molecular machines work. They concluded that the reaction is effectively like a game of badminton, where the shuttlecocks are the reacting molecules. The research has been published in ACS Catalysis , and highlighted by the American Chemical Society as one of its top papers published globally this year. Speaking about the findings, Professor Woodward said, "I am delighted with the success of our research because it took us more than four years to work out the science carefully enough to get the key results.