Amino acids are molecules fundamental to living organisms because they combine to build proteins, the workhorses of the cell. One metabolic pathway that produces amino acids involves transamination, a ...

The ability to form multiple carbon–carbon bonds in a controlled sequence and thus rapidly build molecular complexity in an iterative fashion is an important goal in modern chemical synthesis. In ...

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unveiled a new modular way to combine three mix-and-matchable molecular pieces into new amino acid derivatives using an engineered enzyme ...

Speeding up chemical reactions is key to improving industrial processes or mitigating unwanted or harmful waste. Realizing these improvements requires that chemists design around documented reaction ...

The origin of fatty acids on the prebiotic Earth is important as they likely formed the encapsulating membranes of the first protocells. Carbon-rich meteorites (i.e., carbonaceous chondrites) such as ...

Four billion years ago, the Earth looked very different than it does today, devoid of life and covered by a vast ocean. Over the course of millions of years, in that primordial soup, life emerged.