# Finding new life in old chemicals for pharmaceuticals using light-driven chemistry

Source: [Chemistry News - Biochemistry, Polymers, Materials Science](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-life-chemicals-pharmaceuticals-driven-chemistry.html) · 2026-11-11 · Physics
Page: https://themorning.science/story/finding-new-life-in-old-chemicals-for-pharmaceuticals-using-light-driven-chemist-afb62372b7020ca6
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Drug companies keep large libraries of chemical compounds that are screened for possible pharmaceutical use.
- Sulfonamides, a class of these compounds, are used in antibiotics and in drugs for type 2 diabetes, hypertension and inflammation.
- The reported work uses light-driven chemistry to create new compounds from existing chemical libraries.

## Why it matters

It suggests a way to reuse existing compound libraries to find new drug candidates, which may speed up pharmaceutical development.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-11: Chemistry News article on light-driven modification of chemical library compounds published

## Coverage

- [Finding new life in old chemicals for pharmaceuticals using light-driven chemistry](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-life-chemicals-pharmaceuticals-driven-chemistry.html) — Chemistry News - Biochemistry, Polymers, Materials Science, 2026-11-11

Tags: photochemistry, drug discovery, sulfonamides, chemical libraries, light-driven chemistry

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science