Chemie IOCB News

Penicillin-based antibiotics contain a five-membered hydrocarbon ring in which a sulphur and a nitrogen atom are also incorporated. Nadine Zumbrägel, PhD student at the Chair of Organic Chemistry I at Bielefeld University, has succeeded in selectively producing this important substructure with different residues on this ring using a biotechnological method. The targeted design of such structures now enables the creation of substance libraries of so-called heterocycles, which can be used by the pharmaceutical industry to find new active ingredients in the future. In addition to Bielefeld Chemistry, two scientists from Ruhr University Bochum were also involved in the research. The researchers, with Zumbrägel as first author and Professor Dr Harald Gröger, Head of the Chair of Organic Chemistry I and corresponding author, are presenting their research results today (16 May 2018) in the renowned journal "Nature Communications".

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