Bioorganic Chemistry - Chemistry @ the crossroads of biology and synthesis

Biocatalysis

In this field microorganisms and isolated enzymes are used as highly effective catalysts for the production of chiral intermediates for the pharmaceutical- and fragrance industry. The use of enzymes nicely fits in the group´s activities in the field of green chemistry.

Bioorganic Chemistry - Chemistry @ the crossroads of biology and synthesis

Biocatalysis

In this field microorganisms and isolated enzymes are used as highly effective catalysts for the production of chiral intermediates for the pharmaceutical- and fragrance industry. The use of enzymes nicely fits in the group´s activities in the field of green chemistry.


Ongoing projects, mainly with redox-enzymes, investigated diverse transformations such as Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation, aryl-dioxygenations, and ketone- and enone-reductions. A core competence of the group is the optimization of these transformations for chemical processes. This requires significant changes in the architecture of the enzymes via different molecular-biology techniques (within the group or by partners in the EU or USA). Besides improving the stability of the enzymes and their tolerance towards solvents a major goal is the adaption of stereoselectivity of non-natural substrates.

Ongoing projects, mainly with redox-enzymes, investigated diverse transformations such as Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation, aryl-dioxygenations, and ketone- and enone-reductions. A core competence of the group is the optimization of these transformations for chemical processes. This requires significant changes in the architecture of the enzymes via different molecular-biology techniques (within the group or by partners in the EU or USA). Besides improving the stability of the enzymes and their tolerance towards solvents a major goal is the adaption of stereoselectivity of non-natural substrates.


A field recently entered by the group are biocatalytic cascade reactions in vivo and in vitro. Here, the ability of enzymes to operate under almost identical conditions with a high chemoselectivity for one transformation is used to specifically perform reactions in longer sequences. Here, it is also possible to use artificial fusion-proteins where different catalytic entities are fused in one artificial protein cluster. This field will be expanded in the direction of metabolic engineering. We started recently a program in combination with our metal-catalysis expertise which aims at the development of artificial enzymes. Here,a catalytically active metal is embedded in a protein shell as chiral inducer to enable new transformation which cannot be done by natural enzymes.

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A field recently entered by the group are biocatalytic cascade reactions in vivo and in vitro. Here, the ability of enzymes to operate under almost identical conditions with a high chemoselectivity for one transformation is used to specifically perform reactions in longer sequences. Here, it is also possible to use artificial fusion-proteins where different catalytic entities are fused in one artificial protein cluster. This field will be expanded in the direction of metabolic engineering. We started recently a program in combination with our metal-catalysis expertise which aims at the development of artificial enzymes. Here,a catalytically active metal is embedded in a protein shell as chiral inducer to enable new transformation which cannot be done by natural enzymes.