Holes in the ‘holey graphyne’ story
The challenges – and importance – of questioning published results
At one of the first meetings of my brand-new research group, a student was enthusiastically talking about a groundbreaking paper he had just read. A group of researchers had selectively broken down a 1,2,3-triazole, the product of one of the most important click reactions, with ultrasound.1 Click chemistry was the subject of my PhD thesis, and our group used the method extensively. I was delighted with my student’s choice of paper, until I noticed something amiss: that infrared spectrum looked very wrong!