Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiao Xiao, Kaini Xu, Zhong-Hua Gao, Zhou-Hao Zhu, Changqing Ye, Baoguo Zhao, Sanzhong Luo, Song Ye, Yong-Gui Zhou, Senmiao Xu, Shou-Fei Zhu, Hongli Bao, Wei Sun, Xiaoming Wang, Kuiling Ding
Summary: Enzymes are essential for biological transformations and have attracted great attention for their structures and functions. Biomimetic chemistry has rapidly developed in response to the demand for bioactive molecules and efficient synthesis. Biomimetic asymmetric catalysis, inspired by enzymes, has been recognized as one of the most promising strategies for producing valuable chiral compounds. This review summarizes the evolution of biomimetic asymmetric catalysis in terms of biomimetic design, catalyst development, and catalytic transformations, providing insights into bridging the gap between bio-catalysis and chemical synthesis.
SCIENCE CHINA-CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jingjing Han, Haoning Gong, Xiaokang Ren, Xuehai Yan
Summary: This article introduces the research field of peptide-based supramolecular nanozymes, emphasizing the importance and versatility of peptides as building blocks, as well as the potential for regulating catalytic performance.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yu Zhang, Huizhong Liu, Qingshan Shi, Xiaoyang Chen, Xiaobao Xie
Summary: The combination of photocatalysis and biocatalysis has greatly advanced the development of novel synthetic strategies due to functional diversity and stereoselectivity. In this study, a one-pot cascade process combining photo-oxidative fluoridation and bio-reduction was described, which achieved enantiocomplementary vicinal fluoro alcohols with up to 87% isolated yield and 99% ee.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wesley Harrison, Xiaoqiang Huang, Huimin Zhao
Summary: Combining biocatalysis and photocatalysis allows for selective transformations fueled by visible light and offers many advantages. Previous studies mainly focused on utilizing light-regenerated cofactors to function native enzymatic activity, but recent developments have demonstrated the potential for new chemistry. Our research has expanded the strategies for combining biocatalysis and photocatalysis through the construction of cooperative systems and the extension of cofactor-dependent photoenzymatic systems.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Meng Wang, Valerie A. Kickhoefer, Esther H. Lan, Bruce S. Dunn, Leonard H. Rome, Shaily Mahendra
Summary: The study presents a highly efficient method of embedding proteins in silica using vault protein nanocapsules as templates, achieving nearly 100% immobilization efficiency and maintaining high protein activity during the silicification process.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Catriona C. James, Bas de Bruin, Joost N. H. Reek
Summary: The importance of transition metal catalysis lies in its wide range of applications, including the synthesis of chemicals, natural products, and pharmaceuticals. However, a relatively new application is the catalysis of new-to-nature reactions inside living cells. The complex environment of living cells poses challenges to transition metal catalysts due to the potential inhibition or deactivation by various biological components. In this review, we summarize the current progress in the field of transition metal catalysis, focusing on the evaluation of catalysis efficiency under living cell and biological conditions. Catalyst poisoning is a common issue in this field, and we suggest that future research should explore physical and kinetic protection strategies to enhance the reactivity of catalysts in cells.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shuke Wu, Radka Snajdrova, Jeffrey C. Moore, Kai Baldenius, Uwe T. Bornscheuer
Summary: Biocatalysis is widely used as an alternative to chemical catalysis in various fields, with enzymes playing a key role in organic synthesis, particularly in the production of chiral compounds for pharmaceuticals and flavors. Biocatalysts are also utilized on a large scale for the production of specialty and bulk chemicals. This review focuses on scalable chemical production using enzymes, discussing opportunities, limitations, and emerging enzyme classes through illustrative examples.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ning Liu, Ping Gao, Hai-Yan Lu, Lei Fang, Julien Nicolas, Tap Ha-Duong, Jiang-Shan Shen
Summary: Amphiphobic fluoroalkyl chains are used to create robust and diverse self-assembled biomimetic catalysts. The addition of zinc ions reduces the critical aggregation concentration and enhances the catalytic activity of the catalyst. Molecular dynamic simulations provide insights into the supramolecular assembly and catalytic activity.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Johannes Gottschalk, Miriam Assmann, Juergen Kuballa, Lothar Elling
Summary: The study focused on enzymatic synthesis of industrial hyaluronic acid, using immobilized cascade enzymes on magnetic beads to increase productivity and facilitate enzyme recovery. Results showed successful production of high-quality HA in repetitive batches.
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Derek Troiano, Valerie Orsat, Marie-Josee Dumont
Summary: This study explores the use of filamentous fungi as oxidative biocatalysts, focusing on the oxidation of HMF. Among the five fungal species tested, A. niger and T. reesei showed superior performance and potential for conversion into FDCA through a chemo-biocatalytic reaction system. The optimized one-pot chemo-biocatalytic cascade system achieved an 88% molar yield of FDCA after 80 hours.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Aolin Cheng, Liangliang Zhang, Qinghai Zhou, Tao Liu, Jing Cao, Guoqing Zhao, Kun Zhang, Guanshui Song, Baoguo Zhao
Summary: The direct asymmetric aldol reaction of glycinates has been achieved by using chiral N-methyl pyridoxal as the catalyst, leading to high yields of chiral beta-trifluoromethyl-beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino-acid esters with excellent stereoselectivity and enantioselectivity.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chenguang Liu, Xiaoyi Cui, Wei Chen, Xiaoqiang Ma, Kristala J. Prather, Kang Zhou, Jie Wu
Summary: Combining complementary bioprocessing and chemical transformations can expand the chemical space of natural products for drug discovery. In this study, genetically engineered Escherichia coli fermentation and metal-free photocatalysis were used to synthesize various compounds. The results demonstrate that this combination method is not only efficient, but also environmentally friendly.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Applied
David L. Hughes
Summary: This review provides an overview of recent advancements in biocatalysis, focusing primarily on contributions from patent literature since 2018. It highlights reductive aminations, nitro reductions, amidations, carbon-carbon bond formation catalyzed by lipases and aldolases, as well as cascade biocatalysis. Examples of processes designed and developed for industrial pharmaceutical intermediates preparation are emphasized.
ORGANIC PROCESS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guangcai Xu, Gerrit J. Poelarends
Summary: The application of biocatalysis in challenging synthesis has greatly benefited from the development of new enzymes. By incorporating catalysis modes from synthetic chemistry, novel biocatalysts have been created, and the design of iminium catalysis plays a fundamental role in this process. It has been shown that repurposing existing enzymes or constructing artificial enzymes can promote valuable abiological transformations, demonstrating the power of combining chemomimetic biocatalyst design and directed evolution in generating new-to-nature enzymes.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yangbin Shen, Luqi Wang, Ziwen Xu, Fandi Ning, Yulu Zhan, Chuang Bai, Xiaochun Zhou
Summary: This study successfully developed a novel reaction pathway for low-temperature methanol reforming through synergistic catalysis, improving hydrogen production efficiency and showing potential for commercial applications.
