The use of enzymes in chemical synthesis is typically seen in chiral building block synthesis or the late-stage transformations of individual functional groups. In contrast, synthetic convergence is not commonly done using enzymatic catalysis, yet this mode of chemical synthesis has the potential of rapidly building complexity by stitching individual building blocks together. Our lab utilizes cytochromes P450 (P450s) in the site- and atroposelective construction of biaryl compounds. Biaryl scaffolds are ubiquitous in drug candidates and ligands used in asymmetric catalysis; however, their chemical synthesis is often challenging. In contrast, biocatalytic methods for assembling biaryl compounds often proceed with exquisite control over the various selectivity profiles. In this talk, a chemoenzymatic total synthesis route towards a biaryl natural product will be disclosed. In this synthesis, a P450 enzyme is utilized to carry out selective dimerization of a phenolic substrate, followed by a sequence of contemporary synthetic transformations to assemble the final natural product.

Chemoenzymatic total synthesis of a biaryl natural product

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.