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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday August 13 2020, @12:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the good-thing-it's-all-around-us dept.

Phys.org:

A nifty move with nitrogen has brought the world one step closer to creating a range of useful products—from dyes to pharmaceuticals—out of thin air.

The discovery comes from a team of Yale chemists who found a way to combine atmospheric nitrogen with benzene to make a chemical compound called aniline, which is a precursor to materials used to make an assortment of synthetic products.

[...] Holland said previous attempts by other researchers to combine atmospheric nitrogen and benzene failed. Those attempts used highly reactive derivatives of benzene that would degrade before they could produce a chemical reaction with nitrogen.

Holland and his colleagues used an iron compound to break down one of the chemical bonds in benzene. They also treated the nitrogen with a silicon compound that allowed the nitrogen to combine with benzene.

Journal Reference:
Sean F. McWilliams et al. Coupling dinitrogen and hydrocarbons through aryl migration, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2565-5


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday August 13 2020, @05:34PM (2 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday August 13 2020, @05:34PM (#1036234) Journal

    So they are also getting the benzene from the air? Because if not, then I don't see how this is making stuff out of thin air any more than fire produces ash out of thin air.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @06:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @06:49PM (#1036264)

    They are producing a bunch of hot air.

  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday August 13 2020, @08:14PM

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday August 13 2020, @08:14PM (#1036288) Journal

    I don't see how this is making stuff out of thin air

    They are making money out of thin air. Yoooo toooo can become a millionaire!

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