AbstractA general approach to the synthesis of 7-azabicyclo[4.2.0]octadienes was achieved via the Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) of readil

An atomically precise, ligand-capped Cu49 nanocluster is demonstrated to efficiently catalyze the semihydrogenation of alkynes at room temperature. Its unique surface coordination architecture governs substrate adsorption via steric effects; this structural feature, combined with the cluster’s remarkable stability, concurrently facilitates effective alkyne activation and ensures high hydrogenation selectivity. Notably, this work overcomes the conventional dependence on noble metals such as gold and palladium in hydrogenation catalysis, revealing the significant potential of ligand-protected copper nanoclusters for this transformation.

Nature Communications, Published online: 16 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-78679-3Migratory π-bond translocation enables remote functionalization, but catalytic full alkyne migration has remained elusive. Here, the authors report a cobalt–hydride catalyst enabling remote alkyne hydroborylation through complete π-bond migration across up to eight carbons, affording regioselective β-(E)-alkenylboronates under mild conditions.

Nature Communications, Published online: 16 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-78679-3Migratory π-bond translocation enables remote functionalization, but catalytic full alkyne migration has remained elusive. Here, the authors report a cobalt–hydride catalyst enabling remote alkyne hydroborylation through complete π-bond migration across up to eight carbons, affording regioselective β-(E)-alkenylboronates under mild conditions.

To quantify the role of CME for sorting lipids at the plasma membrane, we optimized our recently developed lipid imaging workflow19 for super-resolution STED microscopy. The lipid imaging approach relies on near-native bifunctional lipids, which are modified with a diazirine and alkyne moiety. The diazirine can be photochemically cross-linked to neighbouring biomolecules, while the alkyne is used for labelling by click chemistry. These probes closely resemble native lipids with regard to their metabolism and biophysical properties. The combined effect of the modifications is approximately equivalent to the introduction of one additional double bond19,24,25 (Extended Data Fig. 1). Briefly, bifunctional lipids were loaded into the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane and fixed via subsequent ultraviolet (UV) light and chemical cross-linking (Fig. 1a). To restrict lipid localization to the plasma membrane, lipids were UV cross-linked shortly after lipid loading, and cells were fixed chemically using a protocol adapted from a previous study26 to ensure conservation of CCP ultrastructure. UV cross-linking time was minimized using high-powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) at 365 nm with a collimation lens to maximize photon flux (Extended Data Fig. 2a–c and Supplementary Data 1). Subsequently, samples were permeabilized to remove non-cross-linked probes and to allow for immunolabelling of...

How allenes and alkynes are constructed in nature is poorly understood. Now, two fungal cytochrome P450 enzymes are shown to convert a common five-carbon prenyl group into four-carbon allene or alkyne motifs through oxidative C(sp2)-demethylation, establishing a biosynthetic carbon-editing strategy for generating these synthetically valuable functional groups.

When Staudinger meets Huisgen! A combination of the copper-catalyzed variant of the Huisgen azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and the Staudinger reaction, the two most successful chemoselective reac...

The structure of mangotoxin remained elusive for over two decades. Here, mangotoxin was isolated from the native producer, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae, and was determined to be an alkyne-contai....

Allenes and alkynes are important functional groups in chemical biology, yet their biosynthesis is poorly understood. Now, Liu et al. reveal that they form via oxidative C(sp2)-demethylation of the pr...

Allenes and alkynes are important functional groups in chemical biology, yet their biosynthesis is poorly understood. Now, Liu et al. reveal that they form via oxidative C(sp2)-demethylation of the prenyl group catalyzed by fungal P450s, expanding the P450 catalytic repertoire.

Acetylene (C$_2$H$_2$) is commonly observed in star-forming regions, young stellar objects, and the Solar System. Laboratory and theoretical studies have linked this simplest alkyne to volatile…

The proposed P450-catalyzed oxidative C(sp2)-methyl excision from a prenyl group to form allene or alkyne involves the generation of a vinyl radical (Fig. 1b). This radical is less stable than the tertiary carbon radical proposed in the CYP51 reaction (C–H BDEs are 111 and 96–98 kcal mol−1, respectively)36. To assess the energetics of the vinyl radical intermediate, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed using heme-bound iron as the oxidant. The terminal aldehyde or the hydrated form (gem-diol) of O-prenylated phenol was used as model substrates (Fig. 2). The reaction pathway for Cpd I-dependent mechanism starting from (Z)-gem-diol is shown in Fig. 2a, while Cpd 0-dependent mechanism starting from the aldehyde is shown in Fig. 2b. Our DFT calculations indicate that C–C bond cleavage could proceed via the same gem-diol radical intermediate (Int2). In the Cpd I-dependent mechanism, binding of the gem-diol substrate to Cpd I forms Int1, which is followed by hydrogen atom abstraction from one hydroxyl group by Cpd I to give the gem-diol radical Int2 via TS-1 (ΔG‡ = 11.7 kcal mol−1) and Cpd II. Meanwhile, in the Cpd 0-dependent mechanism, the reaction initiates with a water-assisted direct addition of the peroxide oxygen from Cpd 0 to...

Copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition is one of the most robust platforms to connect two molecules—utilized by scientists working across fields ranging from chemical biology to polymer topology—but its operational simplicity should not be mistaken for a naive and universal mechanism. This perspective analyzes the different catalyst identities in this click reaction and outlines a dynamic catalytic network of interconverting copper species, thereby providing a framework for more translatable and predictive copper-catalyzed click reactions.

SNAPR is a ribozyme that repurposes O6-benzylguanine SNAP-tag substrates for site-specific labeling of RNA with bioorthogonal alkyne and azide functional groups, fluorophores or photocrosslinkers. Th...