Andrew Gomm

Syngenta Bracknell

Meroterpenoids are mixed terpenoid–polyketide natural products with a variety of biological activities. Now, a synthetic approach that combines biocatalytic oxidation with a range of other radical-based reactions enables the divergent synthesis of eight oxidized meroterpenoid natural products and one analogue.

The development of effective high‐throughput screening assays has contributed greatly to the wealth of designer enzymes available, by enabling rapid identification of desired variants from large mutant libraries. Here, we report a general and operationally simple end‐point assay for transaminases that enables the screening of both amine donors and...

The conversion of readily available monosaccharides to high-value amino alcohols using a key biocatalytic step is an attractive strategy for the preparation of these chiral synthons. Here, we report a previously undescribed example of the direct amination of monosaccharides, which exist predominantly in their cyclic form at equilibrium, using amine...

The “smart” amine donors o‐xylylenediamine and cadaverine were employed for the rapid screening of a large ketone library and subsequent preparative‐scale synthesis of selected compounds using a commercially available amine transaminase, ATA256. The methodology enables both screening and preparative‐scale biotransformations to be performed with a s...

Amine transaminases are important biocatalysts for the synthesis of chiral primary amines. Unlike many enzymes that have been employed for the synthesis of optically active amines, amine transaminases are capable of asymmetric synthesis and do not rely on costly cofactors that must be regenerated in situ. However, their application as general catal...

The expanding “toolbox” of biocatalysts opens new opportunities to redesign synthetic strategies to target molecules by incorporating a key enzymatic step into the synthesis. Herein, we describe a general biocatalytic approach for the enantioselective preparation of 2,6-disubstituted piperidines starting from easily accessible pro-chiral ketoenones...

The application of ω-transaminase biocatalysts for the synthesis of optically pure chiral amines presents a number of challenges, including difficulties associated with displacing the challenging reaction equilibria. Herein, we report a highly effective approach using low equivalents of the novel diamine donor, cadaverine, which enables high conver...