Natural sources, such as plants, fungi and microbes, have historically provided compounds with potent pharmaceutical properties. While it can be challenging to build complex natural products in a lab using existing chemistry methods, Nature has perfected these biosynthetic pathways. The work described leverages the power of Nature’s tools for building complex molecules to synthesize novel molecules with therapeutic potential.  The reactivity and selectivity of enzymes from natural product pathways are often unparalleled in existing chemical methods.

Title: Universal alkene difunctionalization as an aspirational driver