Haemprotein Catalysis

Engineered haemproteins turn simple alkenes into chiral oxazolidinones

Researchers developed a haemprotein biocatalyst that performs aziridination followed by ring expansion, directly converting unactivated alkenes into enantioselective oxazolidinones. This approach installs the previously hard-to-achieve 5-stereocentre in these heterocycles, which are key scaffolds in next-generation tuberculosis antibiotics. The method extends haemprotein nitrene-transfer chemistry beyond conjugated substrates like styrenes to simple, unactivated alkenes.