Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• strategies for controlling reaction pathways and selectivity predominantly involve precise manipulation of catalytic systems (metal catalysts/ligands), reaction parameters (solvent, temperature, time), acid/base mediation, and strategic substrate engineering. This review systematically organizes recent

Harnessing enzyme plasticity for the synthesis of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids

• Melodi Demiray,
• David J. Miller and
• Rudolf K. Allemann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2184–2190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.215

• synthesised in amorphadiene synthase-catalysed reactions from 8- and 12-methoxyfarnesyl diphosphates due to the highly plastic yet tightly controlled carbocationic chemistry of this sesquiterpene cyclase. Keywords: artemisinin; amorphadiene synthase; oxygenated terpenoids; sesquiterpenoids; substrate

• engineering; terpenes; Introduction Amorphadiene synthase (ADS) from Artemisia annua is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the antimalarial sesquiterpene drug artemisinin (1) [1][2][3][4]. ADS catalyses the Mg2+-dependent conversion of farnesyl diphosphate (FDP, 2) to amorpha-4,11-diene (3) with

Chimeric self-sufficient P450cam-RhFRed biocatalysts with broad substrate scope

• Aélig Robin,
• Valentin Köhler,
• Alison Jones,
• Afruja Ali,
• Paul P. Kelly,
• Elaine O'Reilly,
• Nicholas J. Turner and
• Sabine L. Flitsch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1494–1498, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.173

• ; P450 monooxygenase; substrate engineering; Introduction P450 monooxygenases are a ubiquitous family of enzymes found in a wide variety of organisms in all domains of life. These enzymes catalyse oxidation reactions such as hydroxylation, epoxidation, N- and O-dealkylation and heteroatom oxidation