β-Branched aromatic α-amino acids are valuable building blocks in natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds, but their synthesis is challenging due to the presence of two stereocenters. Here, the authors design phenylalanine ammonia lyases variants for the direct asymmetric synthesis of β-branched aromatic α-amino acids and reveal the reasons for enzyme’s inability to accept β-methyl cinnamic acid.
- Chenghai Sun
- Gen Lu
- Uwe T. Bornscheuer
