Creation of a lipase highly selective for trans fatty acids by protein engineering.

Sorting out: Protein engineering of lipase CAL-A led to the discovery of mutants with excellent chemoselectivity for the removal of trans and saturated fatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. These fatty acids, identified as a major risk factor for human health, can now be removed by enzyme catalysis.

Synthesis and evaluation of conformationally restricted inhibitors of aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase.

Inhibitors of the enzyme aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, a key biological target for the generation of a new class of antibiotic compounds, have been developed. To investigate improvements to binding within an inhibitor series, the lowering of the entropic barrier to binding through conformational restriction was investigated. A library of linear and cyclic substrate analogues was generated and computational docking used to aid in structure selection.

Acyl palladium species in synthesis: single-step synthesis of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones from acid chlorides.

Conditions are reported for the facile, one-pot synthesis of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones via the palladium-catalysed cross-coupling of acyl chlorides with hydrozirconated acetylenes, and its use in the 2-step synthesis of D-5-O-benzyl deoxyxylulose.