Scientists from DTU Chemistry find new way to use molecular scaffolding to manipulate enzymatic reactions, which could be used for efficient industrial processes.
Postdoc Dennis Larsen and Associate Professor Sophie Beeren from DTU Chemistry describe a new method using molecular scaffolding to manipulate enzymatic reactions in the article 'Enzyme-mediated dynamic combinatorial chemistry allows out-of-equilibrium template-directed synthesis of macrocyclic oligosaccharides'.
The article has been selected as ChemSci Pick of the Week by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Corresponding author Sophie Beeren, describes the work as "a conceptually new way of exploiting enzymes".
Using the analogy of building a Roman archway using a scaffold, where the shape of the wooden scaffold would determine the shape of the stone structure, Sophie Beeren explains how their method of templated synthesis works on a molecular scale.
Sophie Beeren says to the Royal Society of Chemistry:
"Our building blocks are sugar monomers. The scaffolding is a molecular guest, or template. We glue the building blocks together using enzyme-catalysed reactions. The shape of the template determines how the building blocks end up glued together and thus 'selects' permutation and combinations of building blocks.
Read more about the ChemSci Pick of the Week at Royal Society of Chemistry's website.
Chemistry World - a monthly chemistry news magazine - also chose to write about the research. Read about it here
Read the scientific article in Chemical Science: Dennis Larsen and Sophie R Beeren, Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/C9SC03983J