hide
Free keywords:
Stereoselectivity
Enzymes
Directed evolution
Saturation mutagenesis
High-throughput screening
Abstract:
This is a personal account of the author’s research in the area of directed evolution of the past 15 years. It
focuses on a novel concept first reported in 1997, which has proven to be useful in the development of
catalysts for asymmetric transformations in synthetic organic chemistry. When performing such
reactions, organic chemists can choose between synthetic transition metal catalysts, organocatalysts or
enzymes. However, the latter suffer from traditional disadvantages, such as the often observed
insufficient stereoselectivity, limited substrate scope and/or rate. The concept of laboratory evolution of
stereoselective mutant enzymes eliminates these long-standing limitations and therefore extends the
toolbox of synthetic organic chemistry.
