Research Horizons: A Better Way to Make Life-Saving Drugs
Chemistry professor Yong Yan has developed a new process to produce the critical chemical bonds necessary to make pharmaceuticals.
黑料吃瓜鈥檚 Research Horizons series highlights early career faculty and their burgeoning research projects.
One day pharmaceutical drugs will be faster, cheaper and greener to produce.
At least that鈥檚 the hope of 黑料吃瓜 chemistry professor Yong Yan, who has developed a new way to produce the critical chemical bonds necessary to make drugs using renewable solar energy.
Yan鈥檚 novel process uses a solar cell material called perovskite to act as a catalyst, spurring the chemical reactions needed to bond elements and make drugs. Perovskite is exponentially cheaper and more efficient than other catalysts currently used in drug synthesis.
鈥淭his material does not require complicated manufacturing processes and is widely accessible 鈥� making it an ideal choice as scientists develop highly-valuable molecules, and ultimately pharmaceuticals,鈥� Yan said.
Yan鈥檚 research is funded by a three-year $390,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.
