Work

A mechanistic perspective on the chemistry of biocatalytic desaturation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Desaturation is a fundamental transformation in both synthetic organic chemistry and essential biological processes. While chemical desaturation methods exhibit broad substrate tolerance, they often suffer from harsh reaction conditions and unsatisfactory selectivity. In contrast, natural desaturases achieve dehydrogenation with unrivalled regio- and stereoselectivity under mild conditions but are largely confined to their evolutionary substrates. In this review, we discuss enzymatic desaturations from the perspective of the reaction mechanism and compare them with chemical methods. This review highlights the different strategies that Nature and chemists use to execute this important transformation and shines light on future development of novel desaturation techniques.

Source: Tetrahedron Chem

DOI: 10.1016/j.tchem.2025.100148

Authors: Yueyue Zhu, Weilin Wu, Shixuan Cao, Yuxuan Ye

Institution: Westlake University

Language: English

Topic: Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,660

Funders: Westlake University, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province