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Artificial enzymes

The importance of being selective

Nature volume 389, pages 329–330 (1997)Cite this article

Hydroxylating enzymes introduce one or more O-H groups into organic compounds and are involved in many biological processes. But how do they work? And how might these systems be redesigned to practical ends? Bioorganic chemists address these questions by using synthetic molecular systems.

A striking example of such research appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society1, where Breslow et al. describe the catalytic hydroxylation of a steroid using an artificial cytochrome P-450 enzyme. What is remarkable about this report is both the positional selectivity the authors have achieved, and that the reaction exhibits true catalytic turnover of steroid molecules.

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Figure 1: Hydroxylation reactions.

References

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  1. the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    John T. Groves

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  1. John T. Groves
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Groves, J. The importance of being selective. Nature 389, 329–330 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38602

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