Reprogramming the genetic code of bacteria to incorporate an unnatural amino acid has allowed scientists in the Netherlands to create a new metalloenzyme capable of catalysing an enantioselective reaction.
The artificial metalloenzymes were applied in a catalytic asymmetric Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction
‘Nature is extremely good at catalysing reactions with very high rate accelerations and very high selectivity. But it does so, from our perspective, with a relatively limited set of reactions,’ explains Gerard Roelfes from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, who led the study. His group is targeting existing reactions that use traditional catalysts, but fail to achieve the same rate acceleration and selectivity as enzyme catalysed reactions.
Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Novel artificial metalloenzymes by in vivo incorporation of metal-binding unnatural amino acids
vana Drienovská, Ana Rioz-Martínez, Apparao Draksharapu and Gerard Roelfes
Chem. Sci., 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01525H, Edge Article
