GFPT2/GFAT2 and AMDHD2 act in tandem to control the hexosamine pathway.

The hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) produces the essential metabolite UDP-GlcNAc and plays a key role in metabolism, health, and aging. The HBP is controlled by its rate-limiting enzyme glutamine fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFPT/GFAT) that is directly inhibited by UDP-GlcNAc in a feedback loop. HBP regulation by GFPT is well studied but other HBP regulators have remained obscure.

Spin Photochemistry: Electron Spin Multiplicity as a Tool for Reactivity and Selectivity Control.

Spin chemistry involving small organic molecules without heavy atoms is highly sensitive to spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) modulating biradical conformation as well as hyperfine coupling (HFC) modulating magnetic isotope interactions. Several easily available reaction properties such as chemo-, regio-, and diastereoselectivity as well as quantum yields serve as analytical tools to follow intersystem crossing (ISC) dynamics and allow titrating spin selectivities.

Reaction Mechanism of Iodine-Catalyzed Michael Additions.

Molecular iodine, an easy to handle solid, has been successfully employed as a catalyst in different organic transformations for more than 100 years. Despite being active even in very small amounts, the origin of this remarkable catalytic effect is still unknown. Both a halogen bond mechanism as well as hidden Brønsted acid catalysis are frequently discussed as possible explanations.