Synthesizing fine chemicals: Technological Advance in Production of Pharmaceuticals

04-Oct-2024 - Production of fine chemicals such as those used in pharmaceuticals is typically complex and laborious. An interdisciplinary team of Fraunhofer researchers worked together across different projects to devise a method modeled on a cascade, in which multiple successive stages of synthesis proceed ...

Major breakthrough: New additive process can make better — and greener — high-value chemicals

“Our research opens up fascinating possibilities for the future of pharmaceutical and agrochemical development”

30-Jul-2024 - Researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) have achieved a significant breakthrough that could lead to better — and greener — agricultural chemicals and everyday products. Using a process that combines natural enzymes and light, the team from the ...

Enzymes instead of highly toxic cyanide

Researchers develop biocatalytic process for nitrile production

20-Jun-2024 - A research team from TU Graz and the Czech Academy of Sciences has used two enzymes to eliminate the need for highly toxic cyanide in the production of nitriles. If the household cleaner emits a lemon-like odour, this may be due to a nitrile called citronellyl nitrile. These versatile chemical ...

Paving the Way for Hydrogen from Algae Enzymes

A research team has identified a crucial detail that’s essential for the production of hydrogen using biocatalysts

05-Jun-2024 - Under certain conditions, some algae are able to produce hydrogen – a much sought-after green energy source. Its production takes place in the unique catalytic center of the unicellular algae and is only possible if certain cofactors of the relevant proteins are present. Researchers at Ruhr ...

How to make ubiquitous plastics biodegradable

Understanding the function of a specific bacterial enzyme has paved the way for the biotechnological degradation of styrene

22-May-2024 - Polystyrene is made from styrene building blocks and is the most widely used plastic in terms of volume, for example in packaging. Unlike PET, which can now be produced and recycled using biotechnological methods, the production of polystyrene has so far been a purely chemical process. The ...

A bionanomachine for green chemistry

With the help of an enzyme, the industry could produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an energy-saving and environmentally friendly conditions

16-May-2024 - Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time precisely characterised the enzyme styrene oxide isomerase, which can be used to produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an environmentally friendly manner. The study appears in the journal Nature Chemistry. Enzymes ...

Synthetic chemistry approach yields new compounds with potential biomedical applications

The study marks a significant advancement in chemical synthesis techniques, leveraging modern organic chemistry and engineered enzymes

10-May-2024 - Researchers at Rice University have successfully synthesized a group of natural compounds known as fusicoccanes. The molecules, found in various living organisms, exhibit diverse biological activities, including the ability to modulate protein-protein interactions within biological systems. The ...

TU Graz Bundles Its Strengths in Biotechnology and Artificial Intelligence

09-May-2024 - In a multidisciplinary research project, researchers from the biosciences, process engineering and computer science want to massively increase efficiency in the development of new enzymes and process optimization. This should even enable the breakdown of forever chemicals. Graz University of ...

Producing chemicals in an environmentally friendly and energy-saving way: More yield through nanopores

New membrane process increases the efficiency of enzymes - reaction rate significantly improved

22-Apr-2024 - Flow-through reactors packed with enzymes can produce certain chemicals in a gentle and careful way. However, their performance has so far been limited. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and RWTH Aachen University has now been able to increase the yield a thousandfold. Using a ...

Stronger than Nature: Optimised Radicals as Potential Novel Catalysts

Research team redesigns phenoxyl radicals with improved oxidation capacity in the lab

18-Mar-2024 - Nature uses enzymes for various metabolic processes. These biological catalysts are extremely efficient. Biomimetic catalysts based on inexpensive starting materials from the laboratory that can reproduce the efficiency of the natural enzymes and can function at ambient conditions are therefore ...