Three chemists at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in India have retracted a paper from the Journal of Organic Chemistry because the “incorrect files were inadvertently used.”

The article, “Room-Temperature Cu(II)-Catalyzed Chemo- and Regioselective Ortho-Nitration of Arenes via C–H Functionalization,” described a protocol to perform nitration — the addition of nitro groups onto an organic compound — using an inexpensive copper catalyst.

All three authors signed the one-sentence notice:

This article was retracted by the authors when it was discovered that incorrect files were inadvertently used in the preparation of the published paper.

Corresponding author Tharmalingam Punniyamurthy sent us this background on what happened:

By mistake the student provided un-updated file (incorrect file) that led to error in the yield. We are going to submit shortly the correct version to the same journal. The data of the some of the compounds are to be replaced with improved results. Since the student has kept the files names as similar for both the updated and partially updated, by mistake, sent the partially updated file. Otherwise, the manuscript (introduction, discussion, mechanism and conclusion) will be same. Only for the some of the compounds the data are to be replaced with slightly improved yields.

We’ve also reached out to the journal editor and will update if we hear back.

Hat tip: Shawn Burdette

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