Short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase governs steroidal specialized metabolites structural diversity and toxicity in the genus .

Thousands of specialized, steroidal metabolites are found in a wide spectrum of plants. These include the steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs), produced primarily by most species of the genus , and metabolites belonging to the steroidal saponins class that are widespread throughout the plant kingdom. SGAs play a protective role in plants and have potent activity in mammals, including antinutritional effects in humans.

Coordination of Meristem Doming and the Floral Transition by Late Termination, a Kelch Repeat Protein.

Enlargement and doming of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) is a hallmark of the transition from vegetative growth to flowering. While this change is widespread, its role in the flowering process is unknown. The () tomato () mutant shows severely delayed flowering and precocious doming of the vegetative SAM encodes a kelch domain-containing protein, with no link to known meristem maintenance or flowering time pathways.

All-carbon quaternary stereogenic centers in acyclic systems through the creation of several C-C bonds per chemical step.

In the past few decades, it has become clear that asymmetric catalysis is one of the most powerful methods for the construction of carbon-carbon as well as carbon-heteroatom bonds in a stereoselective manner. However, when structural complexity increases (i.e.

Axial preferences in allylation reactions via the Zimmerman-Traxler transition state.

The reaction of a substituted allylmetal with a prostereogenic carbonyl compound can give rise to up to two racemic diastereomers (syn and anti). Classically, in such reactions, when pure E-isomers have afforded anti-selectivity and the Z-isomers exhibit syn-selectivity, researchers have used the empirical Zimmerman-Traxler model. In this model, chair-like transition states dominate over boat-like arrangements.