title: Chemoenzymatic synthesis of small molecule human therapeutics.
abstract: Pharmaceuticals have historically been produced by either chemical synthesis or whole cell fermentation. The former is applied to synthetic small molecules while the latter to natural products. As a result of recent advances in rapid discovery of enzymes through genome mining and metagenomics, and their tunability in functions and stability through directed evolution, biocatalysis is emerging to be a transformational technology for drug discovery and production. Enzymes can catalyze reactions otherwise challenging by chemical approaches. Furthermore, enzymatic catalysis is a powerful tool for green chemistry development. This manuscript gives a brief overview of current status in integrating chemical and biological transformations for the synthesis of small molecular therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: BioVerdant, Inc., 7330 Carroll Road, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
authors.forename: Ningqing
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rui
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D055162:Biocatalysis; D001702:Biopharmaceutics; D001709:Biotechnology; D015195:Drug Design; D004798:Enzymes; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004798:Enzymes; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations