Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

April 19, 2024

20/04/2024

New copper-catalyzed C-H activation strategy from Scripps Research Two-mode reactions inspired by human detox enzymes offer powerful new tools for drug discovery and optimization

April 19, 2024

LA JOLLA, CA Inspired by what human liver enzymes can do, Scripps Research chemists have developed a new set of copper-catalyzed organic synthesis reactions for building and modifying pharmaceuticals and other molecules. The new reactions are expected to be widely used in drug discovery and optimization, as well as in other chemistry-based industries.

In their study, which initially published in an unedited version on March 28, 2024, in Nature, the chemists showed that their new methods can be used to perform two modifications called dehydrogenations and lactonizations on a broad class of inexpensive starting compounds. The reactions require only a simple copper-based catalyst, whereas related reactions typically require much more cumbersome and expensive methods though this specific type of reaction was previously inaccessible by any organic synthesis method.

This new two-mode approach could be particularly useful for late-stage modifications and diversifications of natural products and drug molecules, says study senior author Jin-Quan Yu, PhD, Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry and Bristol Myers Squibb Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research.

The study's first authors were postdoctoral research associate Shupeng Zhou, PhD, and doctoral student Annabel Zhang, PhD, both of the Yu lab during the study.

The initial goal of the research was to find a new and better method for what chemists call carbon-hydrogen (CH) activation, in which a hydrogen atom on the carbon backbone of an organic compound is detached and replaced with something else a valuable tool for drug synthesis.

In this case, the Yu lab which has a history of innovations in CH activation chemistry sought a better way to do CH activations that replace the hydrogen with an oxygen atom. This is a common transformation in the construction or modification of biologically active molecules, though chemists haven't had laboratory methods for doing it that are as simple, direct and broadly useful as they would like.

Yu and his team looked to nature for inspiration, in particular to cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are found in most living organisms, and help clear potentially toxic molecules in the human liver. Cytochrome P450 enzymes perform oxygen-for-hydrogen reactions very efficiently. Some of these enzymes have the additional ability to catalyze a different hydrogen-removal process called dehydrogenation, which can be used to strip hydrogens from two carbons simultaneously, allowing other atoms or clusters of atoms to replace them. The chemists set themselves the ambitious goal of finding a general organic synthesis method for doing either the oxygenation or dehydrogenation reaction, as these versatile bimodal enzymes do in living cells.

After months of experimentation, Yu's team found that, through chemical transformations similar to those done by the bimodal cytochrome P450 enzymes, they could efficiently make compounds called unsaturated primary amides a class that includes many drug molecules by dehydrogenating inexpensive starting compounds called methoxyamides. For the catalyst, they needed only copper fluoride also inexpensive and easy to use.

As the chemists explored the breadth of their new dehydrogenation method using different specific starting compounds, they observed trace amounts of a type of molecule called a lactone, indicating that an oxygenation reaction had occurred. Ultimately, they were able to determine the reaction conditions that favored this oxygenation or lactonization over the dehydrogenation. In other words, like the bimodal enzymes that had inspired them, they were able to control whether their approach led down one reaction path or the other.

The team demonstrated the remarkable versatility of this set of reactions by using it to modify via dehydrogenation or lactonization, or both a wide variety of starting compounds, including the neurological drug valproic acid and the cholesterol-lowering drug gemfibrozil. (Modifications of existing complex molecules to create potentially better variants are a common drug discovery and optimization technique.)

Yu and his group are currently developing a similar approach for making and modifying lactone- and amide-related compounds called lactams, which include some antibiotics.

We've already had a lot of interest in this new approach from pharma industry chemists, Yu says.

Copper-catalyzed dehydrogenation or lactonization of C(sp3) H bonds was co-authored by Shupeng Zhou, Zi-Jun Zhang and Jin-Quan Yu.

Support for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (2R01GM084019).

Chemistry Yu, Jin-Quan
LINK: https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2024/20240419-yu-co...
See more stories from scripps

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

27/03/2026

FCC Opposes Emergency Motion to Stay Nexstar/Tegna Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

NAB Pans Netflix's Coverage of MLB Opening Day

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Netgear

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature-Rich CV320 and CV520 IP and 3G-SDI POV Cameras at NAB 2026

Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature-Rich CV320 and CV520 IP and 3G-SDI PO...

27/03/2026

Sony Electronics Inc. Elevates Professional Video Workflows with Powerful Updates to Monitor & Control and Catalyst Tools

Sony Electronics Inc. Elevates Professional Video Workflows with Powerful Update...

27/03/2026

GatesAir Extends AirWatch365 Managed Service with Edge Gateway Site Appliance

GatesAir Extends AirWatch365 Managed Service with Edge Gateway Site Appliance Brie Clayton March 27, 2026 0 Comments NAB marks global launch of servic...

27/03/2026

GatesAir Expands AirWatch365 Managed Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Dejero, Eutelsat, Others to Offer 'Field to Air' Demo at NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Global NextGen TV Takes Center Stage at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

USSI Global Opens Media Transport Solutions Lab

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Net Insight Elevates Nimbra Edge to Govern Live Media Sys...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight will showcase the next evolution of Nimbra Edge, its orchestration and control layer designed to manage live media services across...

27/03/2026

Harmonic Delivers Winning Live Sports Streaming Innovatio...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced powerful new innovations that further elevate the company's sports streaming solution. The advanced capabilities enh...

27/03/2026

Bitmovin s Player Web X Expands with Performance First Ad...

Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced significant new capabilities for Player Web X, its next-generation web video player...

27/03/2026

CS live Builds Future Ready OB Van With Riedel MediorNet...

Riedel Communications today announced that Czech-based production company CS live has equipped its newest outside broadcast (OB) van with an integrated Riedel i...

27/03/2026

MPTS 2026 Unveils First Wave of Speakers Featuring BBC Sk...

130 Industry Experts Confirmed as Show Celebrates its 10th Anniversary MPTS, the UK's largest and most influential event for the media, production and tech...

27/03/2026

Grass Valley and NVP Elevate LALIGA Broadcast Production...

Grass Valley today announced the successful completion of a major live production deployment with NVP, a leading European media company specializing in live spo...

27/03/2026

Appear Business Momentum Drives Leadership in Live Produc...

Showcases resilient solutions for satellite-to-IP migration, REMI and hybrid live production Appear ASA (Appear, OSE:APR), a global leader in live production t...

27/03/2026

Lightware MX2 delivers rock-solid 4K60 HDMI 10-bit signal...

San Francisco, California, March 2026 - Microsoft Ignite, a major annual conference hosted by Microsoft for developers, IT professionals, partners and business ...

27/03/2026

Clear-Coms EQUIP Wireless System Keeps Youth With A Missi...

Clear-Com is proud to highlight its support for worship teams through professional communication solutions, with the deployment of its EQUIP wireless system a...

27/03/2026

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments Sage Alerting Systems (SAS), in cooperation wit...

27/03/2026

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway Brian and Dayna Lee BM '13 met and fell in love at Berklee, and now their production companys first Broadway debut i...

27/03/2026

RT is Supporting 20 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this April

RT Supporting the Arts RT is Supporting 20 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this April RT is proud to support an exciting month of arts and cul...

27/03/2026

Average of 1.37 million viewers watched Irish World Cup heartbreak on RT2

Average of 1.37 million viewers watched Irish World Cup heartbreak on RT 2 Over one million streams on RT Player Highest number of streams for any single eve...

27/03/2026

Dolby Unveils Dolby House Shanghai, its First Global Flagship Experience Center

March 27 2026, 01:30 (PDT) Dolby Unveils Dolby House Shanghai, its First Global Flagship Experience Center A New Global Platform Showcasing Dolbys Innovatio...

27/03/2026

Dolby and QQ Music Advance Streaming Music with Enhancements to Dolby AC-4

March 27 2026, 03:30 (PDT) Dolby and QQ Music Advance Streaming Music with Enhancements to Dolby AC-4 Delivering greater fidelity, clarity and detail to Dol...

26/03/2026

Audio-Technica and Extron Announce Microsoft Teams-Certified Enterprise Solutions

Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...

26/03/2026

SPORTEL Asia Returns to Singapore with 370 Participants from 35 Countries

SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: LTN to Showcase Satellite-to-IP Migration Solutions

LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100). The C-Ban...

26/03/2026

Seattle Mariners Upgrade Center Field Video Display at T-Mobile Park with Daktronics

The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...

26/03/2026

Esports Nations Cup 2026 Names National Team Partners Across 100+ Countries

The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Expands Vantage Integration with Adobe Premiere, Media Encoder, and Frame.io

Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: FOR-A Brings Nippon TV's viztrick AiDi AI Production Tool to Market with NVIDIA

FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Reaches New Long-Term Multiplatform Rights Agreement with the WNBA

CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...

26/03/2026

Zac Brown Band to Perform Sunday Night Baseball Open on NBC and Peacock

Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...

26/03/2026

2026 MLB Season Opens With Full Slate of National Games

Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...

26/03/2026

DIRECTV Adds Nine MLB Team Channels for 2026 Season

DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...

26/03/2026

Nationals.TV Now Available on Charter, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, Verizon Fios and More

Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...

26/03/2026

MLB.TV Launches on the ESPN App Starting Opening Day

Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...

26/03/2026

What's Next for Spotify and NAVER in Korea After a Stockholm Summit

Spotify's partnership with NAVER, Korea's leading digital platform, is built around one simple goal: making it easier for listeners in Korea to discover...

26/03/2026

EastWest DrumX: Early access

Exclusive to ComposerCloud for first month Sample library and virtual instrument gurus EastWest have announced the upcoming release of a new virtual drum i...

26/03/2026

Dynamic Range Day 2026

Friday 27 March Friday 27 March will mark Dynamic Range Day 2026, the annual day of online activity that was started in 2010 by mastering engineer Ian Sheph...

26/03/2026

ASMR Choir from SRM Sounds

Includes four separate instruments Max Richter's SRM Sounds venture have just announced their fifth release, ASMR Choir. Captured at the main live room ...

26/03/2026

IMPORTANT FEEDBACK: PESP 6

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), has been tasked with administering the Sixth Presi...

26/03/2026

Why YEP Changed My Career (And Why It Might Change Yours)

By Matt Klein Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Inks New WNBA Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...