What is Bioorganic Chemistry?

Biological research mostly focuses onto complex systems like ecosystems, behavior of living beings, or the functioning of cells. It definitely is an analytical science, which aims at a holistic perspective. In contrast, chemistry is more detailled with studying atoms, molecules, and reactions. Besides the claim to understand chemical systems, chemistry primarily has a synthetic character.

These different perspectives can eminently complement each other. Thus, there are many scientific disciplines at the junction of biology and chemistry: physiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and of course bioorganic chemistry. In bioorganic chemistry we employ chemical methods to address biological problems, and biological methods (e.g., biocatalysis) to forge ahead with synthesis, respectively. Moreover, we investigate chemical compounds of living organism - natural products or compounds.

Natural compounds are complex and interesting active agents, which challenge synthetic methods due to a multitude of functional groups and often a demanding absolute stereoconfiguration. Our mission is to harness natural compounds, active agents, and as many as possible derivatives preparatively for active agent research or as biological probes. To lay out our syntheses as efficient and divergent as possible, we combine chemical and biological methods preferrably unbiased. This exciting field raises a lot of mechanistic questions in synthesis and enzymology, which we study with great curiosity.