Bioorganic and Enzymatic Catalysis

This textbook covers most of the important enzymatic reactions and related catalytic bioorganic reactions using a new didactical concept: Together with the specific enzyme class performing a specific transformation, also corresponding catalytic reactions are described.

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Enzymatic catalysis is the catalysis of a chemical reaction by the action of an enzyme. Such reactions take place in nature in each cell, and are vital due to very low reaction rates of substrates in the cell without catalysis.

The general mechanism of enzymes is similar to that of synthetic catalysts, providing an alternative reaction route with a reduced activation energy neccessary for the reaction to take place. Enzymes can be classified according to their specific mode of action, which involves in all cases a multi-step reaction cascade.

This principle from nature is also applied in biochemistry, biotechnology, and synthetic organic chemistry. As enzymes offer extremely high efficiencies in combination with often unrivalled selectivities, they are very attractive catalysts.

The book covers the most important enzymatic reactions and related catalytic bioorganic reactions using a new approach: Each enzymatic reaction type is compared with organocatalytic, organometallic and other alternative reactions, allowing the reader to understand catalytic reactions in a much-integrated way. It describes enzymatic C-C bond formation using aldolases, Claisen-type C-C bond formation involving fatty acid synthases and polyketide synthases, biomimetic cyclisations involving carbenium ions, enzymatic oxidation and C-H activation, as well as dioxygenases and oxidoreductases. With its unique approach, the book is a valuable source of information for professionals and researchers in academia and industry as well as graduate and PhD students working in the fields of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and life sciences.

This textbook for graduate and PhD students, but also for every beginner in the field (either in academia or industry) presents the most important enzymatic reactions and related catalytic bioorganic reactions. It is unique because of its new didactic concept: each enzymatic reaction type is compared with organocatalytic, organometallic and other alternative reactions. This allows the reader to understand catalytic reactions in a much integrated way.

The first chapter presents a general introduction to the principles of enzymatic and bioorganic catalysis. After that different reaction types like C-C bond forming reactions, oxidation and reduction reactions, isomerization reactions and many more are explained.