Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01494-0 Despite their intriguing photochemical activities, natural photoenzymes have not yet been repurposed for new-to-nature activities. Now, by leveraging the strongly oxidizing excited-state flavoquinone cofactor, fatty acid photodecarboxylases were engineered to catalyse unnatural decarboxylative radical cyclization with excellent chemo-, enantio- and diastereoselectivities ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01504-1 Enantioconvergent reactions convert both enantiomers of a racemic starting material into a single enantioenriched product. All currently known enantioconvergent processes necessitate the loss or partial loss of the racemic substrate’s stereochemical information. Now, an alternative approach has been developed that proceeds with full retention of the racemic substrate’s configuration ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01512-1 Phenols and their derivatives are ubiquitous in nature and important within the chemical industry. Their properties are linked to their substitution patterns, but meta-isomers are underrepresented due to the difficulty of their synthesis. Now we address this challenge by describing a 1,2-transposition of phenols that enables a formal para- to meta-isomerization ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01506-z The development of new methodologies to convert plastics into fuels without relying on noble metal-based catalysts is desirable. Now it is shown that a layered self-pillared zeolite enables the conversion of polyethylene to gasoline with a selectivity of 99% and yields of >80% without the need to use external hydrogen ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01493-1 RNA localization is key to regulating cellular function but is challenging to measure in an unbiased manner. Now a combination of enol-masked acylating probes with a bioorthogonal esterase to locally unmask them provides a non-radical RNA proximity labelling platform—termed BAP-seq—that enables the generation of high-resolution spatial maps of RNA ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01492-2 A non-radical proximity labelling platform — BAP-seq — is presented that uses subcellular-localized BS2 esterase to convert unreactive enol-based probes into highly reactive acid chlorides in situ to label nearby RNAs. When paired with click-handle-mediated enrichment and sequencing, this chemistry enables high-resolution spatial mapping of RNAs across subcellular compartments ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 08 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01505-0 Chiral 1,2-benzazaborines are promising isosteres of naphthalene, but rarely explored due to the lack of efficient synthetic methods. Now, the copper-catalysed enantioselective hydroboration of alkenes with 1,2-benzazaborines has been developed, providing a general platform for the atom-economic and efficient construction of diverse chiral 1,2-benzazaborine compounds bearing a 2-carbon-stereogenic centre or allene skeleton ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 05 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01488-y Serotonin is known by many names — in science as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) or enteramine, and in popular culture as the ‘feel good’ chemical or the ‘happy hormone’. Cameron Movassaghi and Anne Andrews discuss the knowns and unknowns of this well-studied yet elusive neurotransmitter ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 01 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01501-4 Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) occurs in many chemical processes and has various applications. Here ionizing radiation was used to trigger PET for controlled drug release from an antibody–drug conjugate using a picolinium cage. The radiotherapy-activated prodrug system demonstrated high antitumour efficacy and minimal side effects ..read more

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 29 March 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01489-x Key molecular features that drive protein liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) for biomolecular condensate have been reported. A spectrum of additional interactions that influence protein LLPS and material properties have now been characterized. These interactions extend beyond a limited set of residue types and can be modulated by environmental factors such as temperature and salt concentration ..read more