The pair of Colorado State University organic chemists have forged a powerful new tool for drug hunters - a simple, elegantly designed chemical reaction that could fling open an underexplored wing of biologically relevant chemistry.

Anti-malaria drugs known as chloroquines have been repurposed to treat cancer for decades, but until now no one knew exactly what the chloroquines were targeting when they attack a tumor. Now, researchers say they have identified that target - an enzyme called PPT1 - opening up a new pathway for potential cancer treatments.