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As the most abundant class of biomolecules on Earth, carbohydrates are implicated in a multitude of biological functions. Now, a simple chemical transformation has enabled the direct and selective installation of carbohydrates onto a diverse range of small molecules and peptides.
Molecular vibrations can be highly effective promoters of gas-phase chemistry. Now, measurements show that excited vibrational states can survive on metal surfaces far longer than expected — reshaping our understanding of how vibrational excitation might also promote or modify heterogeneously catalysed chemistry on metals.
The beauty and activity of enzymes inspire chemists to tailor new and better non-biological catalysts. Now, a study reveals that the active sites within heterogeneous catalysts actively cooperate in a fashion phenomenologically similar to, but mechanistically distinct, from enzymes.
Proteins are attractive material building blocks, yet their intrinsic functionality has remained largely untapped. Now, a protein-based material that exhibits controllable self-assembling behaviour has been prepared in a one-pot synthesis by simultaneous use of recombinant expression and post-translational modification.
Ribosomes have now been shown to accept certain initiator tRNAs acylated with aromatic foldamer–dipeptides thereby enabling the translation of a peptide or protein with a short aromatic foldamer at the N-terminus. Some foldamer–peptide hybrids could be cyclized to generate macrocycles that present conformationally restricted peptide loops.
Evolution of highly functionalized DNA could enable the discovery of artificial nucleic acid sequences with different properties to natural DNA. Now, an artificial translation system has been designed that can support the evolution of non-natural sequence-defined nucleic acid polymers carrying eight different functional groups on 32 codons.
Phytochemicals exhibit great pharmaceutical importance despite their low abundance in nature. The microbial biosynthesis of complex phytochemicals offers one route to increase their availability and production. This Review discusses recent strategies to reconstruct plant biosynthetic pathways that have not been fully elucidated; enhance plant enzyme activity; and enhance overall reaction efficiency of multi-enzyme pathways.
Organic synthesis is a rate-limiting factor in drug discovery, so the pharmaceutical industry heavily relies on academic research. This Perspective highlights some of the most pressing challenges to be overcome from the industrial viewpoint — such as the development of reactions tolerating specific functionalities — and encourages stronger industry–academia relationships. Credit: Pills image: Profimedia.CZ a.s. / Alamy Stock Photo; Factory image: Diana Johanna Velasquez / Alamy Stock Vector; Graduate hat: Michael Burrell / Alamy Stock Photo; Conical flask: Astex.
The aqueous hydronium cation diffuses about twice as fast as the aqueous hydroxide anion in liquid water, but the origin of this behaviour has been unclear. Now, state-of-the-art simulations provide an explanation for this long-standing conundrum.
An arene-anchored uranium complex has recently been shown to serve as efficient electrocatalyst for the conversion of water into dihydrogen. Now, the crucial role of the arene moiety in enabling catalytic activity — unusual for uranium — has been explored, providing important insight for the design of improved electrocatalysts.
Rational engineering of biosynthetic assembly lines for production of new compounds is an attractive prospect, yet it presents many challenges. Learning from biology, some of the rules for expanding the chemical diversity of non-ribosomal peptides have been uncovered in two recent studies.
A simple palladium catalyst has mediated the facile formation of aroyl triflates — an extremely reactive class of electrophiles. These intermediates, generated in situ, enable the Friedel–Crafts acylation of traditionally unreactive arenes, addressing a significant gap in C–H carbonylation methodology.
Mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for analysing proteins, yet linking higher-order protein structure to amino acid sequence and post-translational modifications is far from simple. Now, a native top-down method has been developed that can provide information on higher-order protein structure and different proteoforms at the same time.
Using infrared light to control the outcome of a chemical reaction is problematic in solution because of numerous interactions and non-specific sample heating. Now, condensed-phase results showing the vibrational enhancement of an otherwise thermally driven reaction may reinvigorate discussion of the practical applications of vibrational control.
