Selective macrocyclization

Christopher Boddy and co-workers at the University of Ottawa have reported in Organic Letters on the selective macrocyclization using DEBS TE.

OL paper

Diepoxide intermediate

Hideaki Oikawa and co-workers at Hokkaido University have reported in JACS on a sequential epoxidation of a bis olefin compound to yield a diepoxide that undergoes a ring opening cascade to form two cyclic polyethers (a tetrahydropyran and tetrahydrofuran).

JACS paper

Heparin’s chemoenzymatic synthesis

Jian Liu and co-workers at UNC have reported in Science on a chemoenzymatic synthesis of the sulfated glycan, heparin – a blood thinner.

 

Science paper

Clividine synthesis

Martin Banwell and co-workers at the Australian National University have reported in JOC on their synthesis of clividine.

JOC paper

C-C bond forming process using an enzyme

Claudia Schmidt-Dannert and colleague at the University of Minnesota have reported in ACIEE on the use of BBE (berberine bridge enzyme) to selectively form a C-C bond.

ACIEE paper

Hydroxymethylcytosine

Thomas Carrel and co-workers from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich have published a mini-review on hydroxymethylcytosine, a newly discovered modification of DNA – as if methylating cytosine was not enough.

ACIEE paper

A new C35-terpene cyclase

Tsutomu Sato and co-workers from Niigata University have reported in JACS on the identification of a terpene cyclase enzyme that cyclized a C35 terpene (sesquarterpene).

JACS paper

Borrelidin studies

Sabine Laschat and co-workers from the Universitat Stuttgart have reported in European JOC on their studies towards borrelidin where they used CYP102A to perform a regioselective hydroxylation of an alkane.

European JOC paper

Allenes from alkynes biosynthetically

Georg Pohnert and co-workers from Friedrich Schiller University have reported in Organic Letters on the biosynthesis of a conjugated allene found in the biosynthetic pathway of moss Dicranum scoparium.

OL paper

Valproic Acid Monitoring

Renato Zenobi and colleagues at ETH Zurich have reported in Chem Comm on a way to detect the pharmacokinetics of valproic acid, a drug used to treat epilepsy.

Chem Comm paper