Bioorganic chemistry

In times of raw material change, the Straubing innovation field of bioinspired chemistry, which also includes the subject area Bioorganic Chemistry, has set itself the goal of developing the products of tomorrow.

Nature as a role model

The idea behind both is the controlled use of molecular functionalities found exclusively in nature for the development of new synthesis routes to innovative green fine and speciality chemicals, functional materials and biobased polymers (Figure).

Enzymes – Natural catalysts for fine and speciality chemicals

In addition to classical chemo-enzymatic synthesis, we are also engaged in the discovery of new enzyme activities. Thus, known enzymes can be replaced by enzymes with improved properties and thus synthesis can be optimised, but also completely new enzyme activities can be identified and thus novel synthesis routes and products can be derived. For example, we were able to establish a screening procedure for methyltransferases, a class of enzymes that can play an important role in the field of drug synthesis. The procedure enabled us to uncover previously unknown enzyme activities for various substrates.

Functional materials with natural properties

In the field of functional materials, both biomass (residues) and proteins can be considered as starting materials. Our goal here is to preserve the functional properties (information) present in the natural starting material and transfer them to the end product. This enables us to develop completely novel materials or to modify surfaces in a targeted way. For example, we were able to successfully use hydrophobic proteins for water-repellent textiles.

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis routes

• Utilization of biomass
• Development of combined synthesis routes
• Enzyme selection and screening
• Optimization of enzymes and enzyme reactions
• Replacement of classical syntheses (fine chemicals)
• Enantiomerically pure product synthesis (active ingredients)
  

Functional proteins: proteins in material and application development

• Physical surface functionalization
• Functional proteins for specific binding

Hadas Simon-Baram, Steffen Roth, Christina Niedermayer, Patricia Huber, Melanie Speck, Julia Diener, Michael Richter, Shimon Bershtein. A High-Throughput Continuous Spectroscopic Assay to Measure the Activity of Natural Product Methyltransferases, ChemBioChem 2022, e202200162, https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202200162

Subrizi, F., Wang, Y., Thair, B., Méndez-Sánchez, D., Roddan, R., Cárdenas-Fernández, M., Siegrist, J., Richter, M., Andexer, J. N., Ward, J. M., Hailes, H. C. Multienzyme One-Pot Cascades Incorporating Methyltransferases for the Strategic Diversification of Tetrahydroisoquinoline Alkaloids. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 60, 18673, https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202104476.

Richter, M., Vieira, L., Sieber, V. Sustainable Chemistry – An Interdisciplinary Matrix Approach. ChemSusChem, 2021, 14, 251, https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202001327.

Hofer, M., Diener, J., Begander, B., Kourist, R., Sieber, V. Engineering of a borneol dehydrogenase from P. putida for the enzymatic resolution of camphor. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021,105, 3159–3167, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11239-5.

Roth, S., Funk, I., Hofer, M., Sieber, V. Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of a Novel Borneol‐Based Polyester. ChemSusChem, 2017, 10(18), 3574-3580, https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201701146.

Hofer, M., Strittmatter, H., Sieber, V. Biocatalytic Synthesis of a Diketobornane as a Building Block for Bifunctional Camphor Derivatives. ChemCatChem, 2013, 5(11): p. 3351-3357, https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201300344.

Reiter, J., Strittmatter, H., Wiemann, L.O., Schieder, D., Sieber, V. Enzymatic cleavage of lignin β-O-4 aryl ether bonds via net internal hydrogen transfer. Green Chemistry, 2013, 15(5): p. 1373-1381, https://doi.org/10.1039/C3GC40295A.