This highlight discusses developments in transition metal-catalysed alkene and alkyne hydroacylation reactions over the past three years. The discussion summarizes the development of new catalyst systems for alkene and alkyne hydroacylation and applications to the synthesis of important ketone building blocks. The highlight captures transition metal-catalysed alkene and alkyne hydroacylation at...

Highly enantioselective catalytic intramolecular ortho-alkylation of aromatic imines containing alkenyl groups tethered at the meta position relative to the imine directing group has been achieved using [RhCl(coe)2]2 and chiral phosphoramidite ligands. Cyclization of substrates containing 1,1- and 1,2-disubstituted as well as trisubstituted alkenes were achieved with enantioselectivities >90% e...

Zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZE) is an enzyme operating in the violaxanthin cycle, which is involved in photoprotective mechanisms. In this work model systems to study zeaxanthin (Zx) epoxidation were developed. Two assay systems are presented in which epoxidation of Zx was observed. In these assays two mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana which have active only one of the two xanthophyll cycle enzymes wer...

A heterogeneous catalyst containing manganese Schiff base complex (derived from 2,4-dihydroxybenzadehyde and 1,2-phenylenediamine) is produced by covalent anchoring in MCM-41 matrix. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), inductivity coupled plasma (ICP), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, N2 sorbtion-desorbtion isotherm and by tr...

A variety of mononuclear alkene complexes, [Ir{ArNC(NR2)NAr}(cod)], and dicarbonyl complexes, [Ir{ArNC(NR2)NAr}(CO)2] (where R = Me or Et; Ar = Ph, 4MeC6H4, 4-MeOC6H4, 2,6-Me2C6H3 or 2,6-Pr2C6H3; and cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene), were synthesized from the neutral N,N-dialkyl-N′,N′′-diarylguanidines via deprotonation and transmetalation. These complexes were fully characterized by spectroscopic tec...

Alkene insertion into Pd-N bonds is a key step in Pd-catalyzed oxidative amidation of alkenes. A series of well-defined Pd(II)-sulfonamidate complexes have been prepared and shown to react via insertion of a tethered alkene. The Pd-amidate and resulting Pd-alkyl species have been crystallographically characterized. The alkene insertion reaction is found to be reversible, but complete conversion...

Recently, we reported that several endogenous steroids affect CYP3A4-mediated drug metabolism, using human adult liver microsomes as an enzyme source. Especially, carbamazepine (CBZ) 10,11-epoxidation is activated by androstenedione (AND). In the present studies, we investigated the effects of endogenous steroids on the activity of CBZ 10,11-epoxidation by expressed CYP3A4 and CYP3A7. When expr...

Kinetic and DFT studies revealed that protonation of Ti-containing polyoxometalates (Ti-POM) lowers significantly the energy barrier for the heterolytic oxygen transfer from the Ti hydroperoxo intermediate to the alkene, increasing the activity and selectivity of alkene oxidation.

Styrene can efficiently be oxidized to (S)-styrene oxide by recombinant Escherichia coli expressing the styrene monooxygenase genes styAB from Pseudomonas sp. strain VLB120. Targeting microbial physiology during whole-cell redox biocatalysis, we investigated the interdependency of styrene epoxidation, growth, and carbon metabolism on the basis of mass balances obtained from continuous two-liqui...