Ask Mark Levin what excites him about his work, and the associate professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago could double as a poet. At its core, he says, chemistry is about creating things that have never existed before and manipulating matter at the atomic level. It is a field that has made valuable contributions to humanity, from synthetic dyes to medicines, and has enriched our lives.
While chemists can currently synthesize almost any molecule imaginable, their methods are limited and often require multiple steps. They typically add chemical groups to existing molecules, which only changes them on the surface. This limitation has bothered Levin, who envisions a way to fundamentally alter molecules within their carbon atom rings.
Inspired by the genome-editing technology Crispr-Cas9, Levin and chemist Richmond Sarpong are part of a small group of chemists developing new methods for inserting, deleting, and swapping individual atoms within molecules. They call this approach “skeletal editing,” and they believe it has the potential to revolutionize their field and change the world.
Skeletal editing does not involve chemists manually altering atoms with tweezers, but rather harnessing chemical reagents, catalysts, or light to perform edits on a massive scale. This approach allows molecules to be designed to behave like tweezers. It is not a single tool, but rather an expanding toolbox that has sparked a new way of thinking.
One of the most exciting applications of skeletal editing is in drug design. Traditionally, drugs are made by identifying a biological target and screening thousands of molecules to find a potential compound to interact with it. However, this process can be time-consuming and challenging. Skeletal editing has the potential to speed up drug discovery by allowing chemists to insert single atoms into molecules’ central rings, avoiding the need to start from scratch.
Chemists are also exploring the use of skeletal editing in materials synthesis. Currently, chemists use monomers that can be bonded together to form polymers, but their designs are limited to available monomers. Skeletal editing could provide a way to design polymers without constraints, using more sustainable building blocks.
While skeletal editing has shown promising results, it is still in its early stages of development. However, there is growing interest in the field, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry. The potential power of skeletal editing has been demonstrated, and researchers are exploring its scope and limitations.
In conclusion, skeletal editing has the potential to revolutionize chemistry by allowing chemists to fundamentally alter molecules and create new materials and drugs. It is an exciting and rapidly evolving field that could have a significant impact on our world.