© Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, e15459
Enzymes in Biocatalysis
In recent years, enzymes have become an indispensable component of modern synthetic chemistry. By opening up new fields of reaction and continuously optimizing catalytic systems, they have steadily expanded their range of applications. This development is being driven by rapid advances in molecular and protein biology, the use of powerful in silico methods, and the availability of highly efficient screening and analysis systems. Enzymes enable reactions and selectivities that are of particular interest to synthetic chemistry but are often difficult or impossible to achieve using classical methods. In addition to the proven class of hydrolases, oxidoreductases, transferases, lyases, and de novo developed biocatalysts are now coming to the fore. Through targeted protein engineering—from directed evolution to machine learning—they can be tailored to new tasks.
At our institute, we are dedicated to developing new biocatalytic applications to expand the repertoire of chemical tools, especially for natural product synthesis and drug discovery. Our particular focus is on alkyl transferases. Our central tasks include providing suitable enzymes, characterizing them comprehensively, and investigating their potential in biocatalytic processes.
