| abstract |
Methods are provided for carrying out carbene transfer transformations such as olefin cyclopropanation reactions, carbene heteroatom-H insertion reactions (heteroatom = N, S, Si), sigmatropic rearrangement reactions, and aldehyde olefination reactions with high efficiency and selectivity by using a novel class of myoglobin-based biocatalysts. These methods are useful for the synthesis of a variety of organic compounds which contain one or more new carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom (N, S, or Si) bond. The methods can be applied for conducting these transformations in vitro (i.e., using the biocatalyst in isolated form) and in vivo (i.e., using the biocatalyst in a whole cell system). |