Published: Feb. 11, 2026
APPLICATIONS:
- Pharmaceuticals
- Agrochemicals
ADVANTAGES:
- Novel enzymatic generation of nitrene precursors that are difficult to access through synthetic methods
- Generation of diverse arylamines and alkanes/alkenes
- Identification of new P450 catalysts with high in vivo activity and optimal biocatalytic conditions
BACKGROUND: Synthetic biology has enabled the production of both natural and unnatural products from inexpensive sustainable feedstocks by engineering metabolic pathways into genetically tractable microorganisms. Yet the scope of available products has been limited largely to compounds accessible from nature’s chemical reactions. The range of biologically produced molecules has been expanded by designing or evolving enzymes to perform reactions on unnatural substrates or to perform reactions not found in nature, but most of the work to date involves addition of synthetic reagents to purified enzymes or to resting cells containing those enzymes. Chemical reactions of metabolic intermediates produced intracellularly in living cells can include intermolecular nitrene transfers.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This invention utilizes a subset of the benzastatin biosynthetic pathway to enzymatically generate nitrene precursors. A new P450 catalyst was identified through the biosynthesis of N-acetoxyanilines, in combination with the generation and transfer of N-aryl nitrene intermediates, enabling high in vivo activity and optimal biocatalytic conditions for the production of various compounds.
The generated nitrene precursors can be transferred to a range of arylamines, phenolics, thiophenolics, and many alkenes, facilitating complex chemical transformations for the generation of alcohols, diamines, diarylamines, and amino alkyl arenes.
DEVELOPMENT STAGE: TRL 5, laboratory scale, system validation in relevant environment
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS:
Andrew Quest
John Hartwig
STATUS: Patent pending. Licensing opportunities available for commercialization and further development.
