OBC is delighted to introduce our Editor’s Choice collection!
This collection showcases some of the best articles published in the journal, handpicked by our Associate Editors and Editorial Board members. This month we have a selection of recent OBC articles chosen by our Associate Editor Jeroen Dickschat.
Meet the Editor
Jeroen S. Dickschat studied Chemistry at TU Braunschweig and obtained his PhD under the supervision of Stefan Schulz in 2004, followed by postdoctoral stays with Rolf Müller at Saarland University and with Peter Leadlay at the University of Cambridge (UK). In 2008 he started his independent career at TU Braunschweig, culminating in his habilitation in 2013. In 2014 he accepted an appointment as a Professor of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bonn. He also holds a honorary Professorship at the NIOO Wageningen (The Netherlands).
His group is interested in the biosynthesis of microbial natural products, with a special focus on the elucidation of the complex reaction mechanisms in their formation.
Jeroen’s favourite articles
Swermilactones A and B: racemic xanthone–secoiridoid heterodimers from Swertia mileensis
Yao Du, Hao Li, Xiao-Yu Qi, Yuan-Liang Xu, Yan Liu, Xue-Mei Niu, Kai Guo & Sheng-Hong Li
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2025, 23, 3860-3864
“This research article describes the isolation and structural characterisation of swermilactones A and B from Swertia mileensis. Unlike most natural products, the swermilactones were shown not to be enantiomerically pure, but rather scalemic. The strength of this paper lies in the rigour not only to uncover the scalemic nature of the natural products, but also in giving a sound scientific explanation for their possible biosynthesis.”
Discovery of a plant-like tridomain bifunctional syn-abieta-7,13-diene synthase in Streptomyces
Caitlin A. McCadden, Diana P. Łomowska-Keehner, Tracy Qu, Jordan Nafie, Tyler A. Alsup & Jeffrey D. Rudolf
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2025, 23, 9845-9850
“Terpene synthases in bacteria usually exhibit a single so-called alpha-domain or a combination of beta and gamma-domains, while plant terpene synthases usually contain three domains (alpha-beta-gamma). The present paper not only reports about the occurrence of alpha-beta-gamma domain terpene synthases from bacteria, but also about the bioinformatic identification of additional interesting gene fusions, suggesting multifunctional bacterial enzymes to be characterised in future work.”
Nitrones as directing groups in transition metal-catalysed C–H activation
Barbara Stańska, Anjali Dahiya & Rafał Loska
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2026, 24, 11-37
“This review highlights the role of nitrones as directing groups in transition metal-catalysed C-H activations. C-H activations continue to be a hot topic, but the non-expert reader may not be aware that nitrones can play important roles in catalytic processes. This review article follows a highly didactic approach and also identifies important open questions such as the development of chiral catalysts for enantioselective reactions.”
We hope you enjoyed reading these articles. Keep an eye out for more of our Editors’ favourite articles in the future.
