Biomimetic catalytic transformation of toxic α-oxoaldehydes to high-value chiral α-hydroxythioesters using artificial glyoxalase I

Abstract

Glyoxalase I converts toxic methylglyoxal to a thioester. Here the authors report a synthetic analogue capable of enantioselectively converting alpha-keto aldehydes to thioesters via formation of a hemithioacetal, giving access to both enantiomers of a range of alpha-hydroxy thioesters.