Iron and blue LEDs synthesize natural molecules, cutting the need for expensive chiral components

Photocatalysts facilitate chemical reactions by absorbing light. Metal-based photocatalysts are widely used in organic synthesis due to their durability and the ability to tune their function by modifying the ligands attached to the central metal atom. Most metals used in photocatalysts, such as ruthenium and iridium, are rare and expensive. Researchers at Nagoya University, Japan, previously developed an iron-based alternative, but it required large amounts of costly chiral ligands, which act as spatial templates to determine the three-dimensional structure of chemical products.