Vincent Lavallo

Vitamin B1 theory from 1958 is finally proven by scientists after being called 'crazy'

tomwt — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 15:07:24 +0000

Vitamin B1 theory from 1958 is finally proven by scientists after being called 'crazy' tomwt Tue, 09/02/2025 - 08:07 More CNAS in the Media Eric Ralls | Earth.com August 30, 2025

EARTH.COM - or years, one rule in chemistry class seemed simple: certain high-energy carbon species, like vitamin B1, fall apart in water. That’s why many reactions take place in specialized organic solvents instead of the most common solvent on Earth.

A new study puts a crack in that rule. It shows that a reactive carbon species can persist in water long enough to be directly observed and clearly described.

Water is common, safe, cheap, and central to life. If reactive carbon chemistry can run in water, we get a clearer picture of how some enzymes might work inside cells and a cleaner path for industry to make useful molecules.

...

“This is the first time anyone has been able to observe a stable carbene in water,” said Vincent Lavallo, a professor of chemistry at UC Riverside and corresponding author of the paper.

“People thought this was a crazy idea. But it turns out, Breslow was right.”

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Vincent Lavallo

Scientists finally confirm the 'crazy' hypothesis about vitamin B1 from 1958

tomwt — Fri, 23 May 2025 20:55:57 +0000

Scientists finally confirm the 'crazy' hypothesis about vitamin B1 from 1958 tomwt Fri, 05/23/2025 - 13:55 More CNAS in the Media Jordan Joseph | Earth.com May 23, 2025

EARTH.COM - Scientists once dismissed a 1958 hypothesis about vitamin B1, or thiamine, as unlikely. The idea was that this vitamin, vital for basic metabolic functions, might turn into a very reactive intermediate during certain biochemical processes.

Now, researchers have shown that the hunch was correct. Prof. Vincent Lavallo from the University of California, Riverside (UCR), led the investigation that confirms vitamin B1 can form a reactive species called a carbene, even in watery surroundings.

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Vincent Lavallo

Super-shielded carbene is stable in liquid water

tomwt — Wed, 21 May 2025 15:05:32 +0000

Super-shielded carbene is stable in liquid water tomwt Wed, 05/21/2025 - 08:05 More CNAS in the Media Jamie Durrani | Chemistry World May 21, 2025

CHEMISTRY WORLD - A new ‘super-shielded’ carbene is stable in liquid water solutions. The US team that made the carbene claims that it ‘unambiguously confirms’ that it is possible to generate carbenes in an aqueous environment – validating a hypothesis put forward almost 70 years ago by the famed organic chemist Ronald Breslow.

In the late 1950s, Breslow proposed that vitamin B1 was able to promote various biochemical reactions via the formation of a fleeting carbene species. But this was a controversial idea as carbenes are not generally thought to be compatible with water. While much indirect evidence gathered over the years has led the scientific community to accept Breslow’s hypothesis, until now no carbene had been directly observed in an aqueous solution.

Vincent Lavallo, whose lab at the University of California, Riverside isolated the new water-stable carbene, explains that the project began almost a decade ago. ‘We design catalysts as part of my research programme, and [carbenes] often can be used as supporting parts of catalysts as ligands,’ he explains. ‘And this one turns out to be a horrible ligand – doesn’t bind anything, doesn’t react with anything. But that’s why we can isolate it.’

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Vincent Lavallo

Scientists just confirmed a 67-year-old hypothesis about Vitamin B1

tomwt — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:51:45 +0000

Scientists just confirmed a 67-year-old hypothesis about Vitamin B1 tomwt Wed, 04/30/2025 - 09:51 More CNAS in the Media David Nield | ScienceAlert April 29, 2025

SCIENCEALERT - You often need a lot of patience to be a scientist, and that's certainly been the case for researchers who have now found solid evidence for a hypothesis around vitamin B1 (or thiamine) that was first put forward almost 70 years ago.

In 1958, Columbia University chemist Ronald Breslow proposed that vitamin B1 performs key metabolic processes in the body by forming a molecular structure known as a carbene.

The problem: carbenes are highly unstable and reactive, and usually break down instantly in water. They should, by all accounts, be incompatible with the body's high water content.

But researchers led by a team from the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) have now managed to keep a carbene intact in water for months in their lab.

"This is the first time anyone has been able to observe a stable carbene in water," says chemist Vincent Lavallo, from UC Riverside. "People thought this was a crazy idea. But it turns out, Breslow was right."

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Department of Chemistry

Vincent Lavallo