Using light-powered enzymes to build clean, high-value chemicals
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Aug-2025 18:11 ET (21-Aug-2025 22:11 GMT/UTC)
A pioneering research lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has achieved another milestone using light-driven enzymatic reactions to convert simple biological building blocks into valuable chemicals. The team, part of the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), developed a clean, efficient way to make complex chemicals called chiral ketones through photocatalysis. Chiral molecules — commonly used in agrochemicals and medicines — exist in two mirror-image forms, like left and right hands, and often only one “hand” is effective or safe. This study offers a precise and eco-friendly way to make specific chiral molecules with complicated structures, supporting new opportunities to transform renewable carbon sources like bioenergy crops into high-value molecules.
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