A new paper, co-authored by ten School of Chemistry undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, advances sustainable methods for organic synthesis. The one-pot deprotection cascade developed by the School of Chemistry team, including 4P and taught Masters students. A new paper from the School of Chemistry, “Developing deprotectase biocatalysts for synthesis”, presents an optimised biocatalytic approach to convert protected organic molecules into their de-protected forms. Protection and subsequent deprotection are key steps in organic synthesis in which a functional group is concealed from reaction by a protecting group. Biocatalytic methods could provide a sustainable alternative to replace the chemical routes which require organic solvents and metal-based chemical reagents, and this work successfully expands the method to use biocatalysts to make the protected substrates. The paper is unique in being co-authored by a team of ten School of Chemistry undergraduate and postgraduate taught Masters students alongside the PhD students and postdoctoral research assistants who supervised their work in the lab (and SoC academics Prof. Dominic Campopiano, Prof. Alison Hulme, and Dr Annamaria Lilienkampf). The undergraduate students carried out this project as part of their Chem4P lab course (a laboratory-based research training course in preparation for the final year project) and summer internships. Congratulations to all the authors of the paper! Lead author Prof. Dominic Campopiano commented: “This is a breakthrough paper and a great example of what our students can achieve in the lab. This work is excellent preparation for both future study and opportunities in industry. Well done to all of the co-authors – thank you for your very valuable contributions!” Prof. Dominic Campopiano Lead author Read the paper and the accompanying discussion in Faraday Discussions The paper acknowledges funding from Syngenta, the Derek Stewart Trust, the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and the BBSRC. RSC Faraday Discussions and Biocatalysis The paper was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Discussions. Faraday Discussions are unique international discussion meetings that address current and emerging topics at the forefront of the physical sciences. This was the first Faraday Discussion on Biocatalysis, a rapidly evolving field with increasing impact in synthesis, chemical manufacturing and medicine. The field is being transformed by advances in biophysical and computational techniques that enable biocatalyst engineering to improve their synthetic applications. This article was published on 2024-07-22
