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Protein fibril formation is involved in many human diseases and thus has been mechanistically elucidated in the context of understanding — and in turn treating — them. This biological phenomenon has now also inspired the design of a supramolecular system that undergoes living polymerization.
Cytochrome P450 enzymes are able to oxidize substrates that are more inert than their own surrounding protein framework. Now, a quantitative understanding has emerged as to how the enzymes accomplish this remarkable feat.
High selectivity is essential in the enzymatic biosynthesis of complex natural products. Now, the discovery of multiple sequential bifurcations on the reaction path towards the formation of a diterpenoid shows how dynamics affect selectivity, and suggests how enzymes may steer reactions towards a specific product.
Discovering and validating new targets is urgently required to tackle the rise in resistance to antimalarial drugs. Now, inhibition of the enzyme N-myristoyltransferase has been shown to prevent the formation of a critical subcellular organelle in the parasite that causes malaria, leading to death of the parasite.
The organic synthesis of graphene nanostructures requires exceptionally efficient chemistry and is made more challenging by difficulties in characterization and processing. Now, solution-dispersible graphene nanoribbons have been synthesized on the gram scale.
Metal-coordinating groups are widely used to direct C–H functionalization. Now the combination of an alkene hydrosilylation, C–H activation and C–Si oxidation has been used to achieve a formal 1,4-dioxygenation of alkenes.
