In this article, published in Chemical Science, we show that stereoselective peptide catalysis is feasible in complex environments, including cell lysates. We are very excited about the data, since they show how robust and stereoselective peptide catalysts can be, but also raise the intriguing question of whether some peptides catalyse biochemical reactions, possibly orchestrating an underworld of clandestine organocatalysis that yet needs to be discovered?

This article was also featured by Chemical Science in their "hot article collection" and was a "Pick of the Week."

Title:
Stereoselective Peptide Catalysis in Complex Environments – from River Water to Cell Lysates
Authors:
Tobias Schnitzer, Jonas W. Rackl, and Helma Wennemers
Citation:
Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 8963-8967
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SC02044K

The Wennemers Group