Jordy Saya

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[person name=”Jordy Saya” picture=”https://syborch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Jordy200x200.png” pic_link=”http:” title=”PhD Student” email=”” facebook=”” twitter=”” linkedin=”https://nl.linkedin.com/pub/jordy-saya/54/a36/8a8″ dribbble=”” linktarget=”_blank”][/person]

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WN-Combining Biocatalysts and Multi Component Reactions

Biocatalysis has evolved over the past decades towards a reliable facet in the field of synthetic chemistry. Many researchers are exploring the possibilities of these enzymes by applying them in several synthetic strategies. Unfortunately, the use of enzymes is still not fully integrated in the synthetic community. In our pursuit for sustainable and efficient methodologies, we would like to apply these biocatalysts in combination with one of our prime interests – multicomponent reactions (MCRs). With MCRs it is possible to generate highly complex and diverse molecules in a single step. For most MCRs, however, asymmetric procedures are unavailable[1] and we want to overcome this weakness of MCRs by making use of the highly stereoselective strength of nature’s catalysts.

Most synthetic chemists tend to look at exotic organo- or transition-metal catalyzed transformations before considering biocatalysis. We think this is mainly due a lack of understanding of these extraordinary catalysts. For instance, enzymes are considered to be sensitive, unpredictable and impractical. These labels are suitable for some enzymes, however, in many cases the exact opposite is true, e.g. lipases have proven to accept a wide range of substrates and tolerate harsh conditions. Therefore we would like to direct our focus mostly on enzymes that have proven to accept a wide range of substrates and combine these with MCRs, preferably in a one-pot sequence.

[1] de Graaff, C.; Ruijter, E.; Orru, R. V. A. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2012, 41, 3969.

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