The metabolism of living organisms could be harnessed to help construct small molecules, according to a team from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Chemists routinely use microbial enzymes as catalysts. But Emily Balskus and her colleagues instead used engineered Escherichia coli as a source of reagent. They combined a palladium-based catalyst with the hydrogen generated by the E. coli to add hydrogen to a variety of alkenes (which contain double-bonded carbon atoms).

Although the reaction was not as efficient as conventional methods, the approach could produce molecules that cannot be made using biochemistry alone, the researchers argue.

Angew. Chem. http://doi.org/f2sbt2 (2014)