Making chiral molecules easily is a synthetic chemist’s dream. Francesco Mutti and his team have used modified enzymes to produce amines with two stereocentres in a one-pot synthesis with high precision and efficiency.

It’s no secret that pure chirality in molecules is both very important and difficult to achieve. But the field of biocatalysis has a few tricks up its sleeve in the form of enzymes. Enzymes are natural catalysts and tend to have very specific functions. They work very well together in cells, but it’s a different story in the lab. ‘Whenever you want to carry out a chemical transformation involving several steps at the same time using different enzymes, compatibility is an issue’, says Francesco Mutti, associate professor of biocatalysis at the University of Amsterdam. Recently, however, Mutti and his group have made a significant contribution to the field.