Unmet Need:
Enzymes are biocatalysts, which accelerate various biochemical reactions. In the current scenario, enzymes serve as useful biocatalysts for several industrial processes and chemical reactions. Moreover, they play an important role in chemical engineering, food technology, and agriculture. The utilization of enzymes minimizes the cost, reduces the time of manufacturing process, and provides better substrate quality for reaction. Over the last decade or so the field of unnatural biocatalysis has witnessed an explosion and a variety of challenging stereoselective C-C and C-heteroatom bond forming transformations have come to fruition through directed evolution of heme proteins. Numerous processes of significant synthetic utility remain to be discovered or optimized. For example, by taking advantage of the precise site and stereocontrol imposed by the enzyme, exciting new possibilities of selective C−H functionalization await development.
Technology Overview:
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed biocatalyst machinery for functionalization of a chemically notoriously inert chemical bond. These engineered proteins will open up a whole new functional space of one of nature’s most versatile catalysts for molecular functionalization.
Stage of Development:
Experimental data is available.
Publication
