FWF - ArtEnzDes - Design of Artificial Enzymes for the Baylis-Hillman reaction

Organocatalysts, such as non-chiral 4-(dimethylamino)-pyridine derivatives catalyzing the Baylis-Hillman reaction in water, will be covalently and non-covalently attached to selected protein scaffolds. The chiral environment of the protein will induce stereoselectivity leading to chiral products. The designed enzymes will be analyzed in detail including structure determination by X-ray crystallography. The gained insights will be used to computationally design the protein scaffolds further with the aim to increase stereoselectivity as well as turnover.