Enzymes enter new territory to perform unnatural reaction

Unactivated alkenes have been transformed into four stereoisomers of cyclopropane by a group of enzymes – the first example of a biocatalytic reaction that does not occur in nature. The set of biocatalysts could serve as starting points for ‘green’ synthesis of cyclopropanated products, the researchers say. Such products include the insecticides pyrethroids and several quinolone antibiotics.