Sep 12 2014
University of Bristol scientists have published a paper on a reagent that reacts with boronic esters with extraordinary stereocontrol and high fidelity. This would aid in controlling the molecule’s conformation and make it take a linear or helical shape. This novel process can be considered to be similar to that of a molecular assembly line.
Sophisticated machinery has naturally evolved for organic synthesis. Nature’s machinery for organic synthesis of polyketides is an outstanding example. Polyketides possess a broad spectrum of biological activities, such as antibiotic, antiparasitic, antifungal, and antitumor activities. They are considered to be a critical class of molecules.
In this organic synthesis process, a small building block, which is a thioester, is trasmitted between enzyme domains growing as it moves, until it forms the desired target molecule. This process resembles is similar to a molecular assembly line.
Researchers at University of Bristol wanted to build a molecular assembly line by mimicking nature’s process. They utilized an iterative process, which was very difficult, as every iteration had to happen with a very high efficiency of greater than 99.5% along with stereocontrol of greater than 99.5%, failing which mixtures would occur.
The researchers made a complex molecule from a simple building block by employing repeated iteration. The complex molecule was a carbon chain that had ten methyl groups contiguously. This complex molecule, that they converted, was highly precise over its length and its stereochemistry, which led to its shape.
The researchers targeted various stereoisomers, which took on shapes based on their stereochemistry. The present study will help create molecules whose shapes could be predicted beforehand.
This paper has been published in Nature journal.