Computational Microbiome Pharmacology Analysis Elucidates the Anti-Cancer Potential of Vaginal Microbes and Metabolites.

The vaginal microbiome's role in risk, progression, and treatment of female cancers has been widely explored. Yet, there remains a need to develop methods to understand the interaction of microbiome factors with host cells and to characterize their potential therapeutic functions. To address this challenge, we developed a systems biology framework we term the Pharmacobiome for microbiome pharmacology analysis.

Practical electrochemical hydrogenation of nitriles at the nickel foam cathode.

We report a scalable hydrogenation method for nitriles based on cost-effective materials in a very simple two-electrode setup under galvanostatic conditions. All components are commercially and readily available. The method is very easy to conduct and applicable to a variety of nitrile substrates, leading exclusively to primary amine products in yields of up to 89% using an easy work-up protocol.

Current status of carbon monoxide dehydrogenases (CODH) and their potential for electrochemical applications.

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO) levels are rising to alarming concentrations in earth's atmosphere, causing adverse effects and global climate changes. In the last century, innovative research on CO reduction using chemical, photochemical, electrochemical and enzymatic approaches has been addressed. In particular, natural CO conversion serves as a model for many processes and extensive studies on microbes and enzymes regarding redox reactions involving CO have already been conducted.

Stereoselective Kinugasa/Aldol Cyclization: Synthesis of Enantioenriched Spirocyclic β-Lactams.

We report an enantioselective copper-catalyzed Kinugasa/aldol domino reaction. This strategy enables access to a range of spirocyclic β-lactam pyrrolidinones in a stereoselective fashion. Under mild reaction conditions, prochiral alkyne-tethered ketones are coupled with nitrones to enable the facile construction of two spirofused ring systems containing three continuous stereocenters with excellent enantioselectivity.