Cyclopropane rings are a structural element naturally occurring in biologically active natural products compounds and pharmaceutical ingredients.The rigidity of its constrained structure and its reactivity make it a unique structural motif of interest in pharmaceutical science, synthetic chemistry, chemical biology. Due to their wide interest, several different synthetic methodologies have been developed over time, to prepare cyclopropanes, as racemates or in enantiomerically pure form, including, among the most important, the Simmons-Smith and the Corey–Chaykovsky reactions. More recently, enzymatic cyclopropanation methodologies ,using engineered variants of the cytochrome P450-BM3, myoglobin-based catalyst, for highly selective cyclopropanation reactions of different compounds. However, all this methodologies still suffers major synthetic and environmental limitations due to the use of harsh reaction conditions, stoichiometric metal mediators or chiral auxiliaries and hazardous diazo-compound reagents. Ultimately, cyclopropanation is still a major challenge in organic chemistry. To tackle this issue in terms of "green chemistry" and industrial application, Cyclopropane Synthase (CS) enzymes constitute an interesting class of enzymes, naturally catalysing the cyclopropanation of unsaturated lipids in bacteria and plants , operating under milder conditions and without using hazardous diazo-carbene co-substrates.
Cycloprobio has characterised new CS enzymes and paved the way to their exploitation as biocatalysts for selective synthesis of cyclopropanated fatty acids and phospholipids. This ultimately is expected to contribute in reducing the environmental impact of a variety of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. The project also firmly aligns with the key European research priorities of “green chemistry” and “sustainable manufacturing processes”.
