Pushing the boundaries of eco-friendly chemical production
The CABBI team demonstrated an innovative way to modify these molecules, a groundbreaking discovery that holds promise for new industrially relevant chemical reactions and sustainable energy solutions.
Central to their research is the use of photoenzymatic systems.
In simpler terms, it's akin to supercharging nature's tiny workers, enzymes, with a flashlight, enabling them to assemble or repair molecular structures in unprecedented ways.
By harnessing the power of light, these scientists have unearthed novel chemical reactions that were previously thought to be out of reach.
The study, published in Nature Chemistry, was conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The lead authors are CABBI Conversion Theme Leader Huimin Zhao, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), biosystems design theme leader of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), and Director of the NSF Molecule Maker Lab Institute at Illinois; and Maolin Li, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with CABBI, ChBE, and IGB.
Azaarenes, seemingly minuscule in the vast universe of chemistry, nonetheless play a monumental role.
