An Epoxide Intermediate in Glycosidase Catalysis
Carme Rovira, ICREA Research Professor at the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry and member of the IQTC, led the team that carried out the study, as part of a collaborative effort involving four international groups from the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Canada. Other groups from the CIC Biogune center (Bilbao) have taken part in the study as well.
This work, published in the journal ACS Central Science, describes a new catalytic mechanism of nature to break down carbohydrates, which goes through the formation of an epoxide chemical group, unprecedented in glycosidase catalysis. The synopsis would be Mannosidases of glycoside hydrolase family 99 use a neighboring-group participation mechanism involving the substrate 2-hydroxyl.
For a more detailed information about the study, please check out the news published by the UB here
And the original article published in the journal ACS Central Science, here