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The synthesis of polycyclic structures bearing partially saturated (hetero)arenes is important as many of these structures have biological relevance. Here the authors develop a one-step method for selective dearomative functionalization of feedstock (hetero)arenes via organophotocatalysis.

Viridicatin is a fungal alkaloid. Here, the authors identify and characterize the cyclopenase that catalyzes the last step of its biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans, the conversion of cyclopenin to viridicatin, and find that the reaction proceeds via an unusual elimination mechanism.

Catabolizing lignin-derived aromatic compounds requires an aryl-O-demethylation step. Here the authors present the structures of GcoA and GcoB, a cytochrome P450-reductase pair that catalyzes aryl-O-demethylations and show that GcoA displays broad substrate specificity, which is of interest for biotechnology applications.

The introduction of fluorine into organic molecules often requires prefunctionalised molecules or protection of reactive functional groups. Here, the authors report a biocatalytic method for the trifluoromethylation of unprotected phenols under mild conditions.

Fluostatins, benzofluorene-containing aromatic polyketides in the atypical angucycline family, conjugate into dimeric and even trimeric compounds in the post-biosynthesis. The formation of the C–C bond involves a non-enzymatic stereospecific coupling reaction. In this work, the unusual regio- and enantioselectivities were rationalized by density functional theory calculations with the M06-2X (SMD, water)/6–311 + G(d,p)//6–31G(d) method. These DFT calculations reproduce the lowest energy C1-(R)-C10′-(S) coupling pathway observed in a nonenzymatic reaction. Bonding of the reactive carbon atoms (C1 and C10′) of the two reactant molecules maximizes the HOMO–LUMO interactions and Fukui function involving the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of nucleophile p-QM and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of electrophile FST2− anion. In particular, the significant π–π stacking interactions of the low-energy pre-reaction state are retained in the lowest energy pathway for C–C coupling. The distortion/interaction–activation strain analysis indicates that the transition state (TScp-I) of the lowest energy pathway involves the highest stabilizing interactions and small distortion among all possible C–C coupling reactions. One of the two chiral centers generated in this step is lost upon aromatization of the phenol ring in the final difluostatin products. Thus, the π–π stacking interactions between the fluostatin 6-5-6 aromatic ring system play a critical role in the stereoselectivity of the nonenzymatic fluostatin conjugation.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes have gained significant interest as selective oxidants in late-stage chemical synthesis. Their broad substrate scope enables them to be good candidates for their use in non-natural reactivity. Directed evolution evolves new enzyme biocatalysts that promote alternative reactivity for chemical synthesis. While directed evolution has proven useful in developing biocatalysts for specific purposes, this process is very time and labor intensive, and therefore not easily repurposed. Computational analysis of these P450 enzymes provides great insights into the broad substrate scope, the variety of reactions catalyzed, the binding specificity and the study of novel biosynthetic reaction mechanisms. By discovering new P450s and studying their reactivities, we uncover new insights into how this reactivity can be harnessed. We discuss a standard protocol using both DFT calculations and MD simulations to study a variety of cytochrome P450 enzymes. The approach entails theozyme models to study the mechanism and transition states via DFT calculations and subsequent MD simulations to understand the conformational poses and binding mechanisms within the enzyme. We discuss a few examples done in collaboration with the Tang and Sherman/Montgomery groups toward elucidating enzyme mechanisms and rationally designing new enzyme mutants as tools for selective C–H functionalization methods.