IIT Delhi researchers develop visible-light strategy for amino acid synthesis

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed a new visible-light-driven chemical strategy for the precise synthesis of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) and peptides. Led by Professor Ravi P Singh of the Department of Chemistry, the method utilizes light energy and a chiral copper catalyst-ligand system to achieve high selectivity in chemical transformations.

Unnatural amino acids are modified versions of naturally occurring amino acids used in biotechnology and medicine to create molecules with enhanced stability, longer activity, and better target selectivity. Drugs such as bortezomib, octreotide, and baclofen already utilize modified amino acids for therapeutic purposes.

A primary challenge in this field is controlling chirality, or molecular “handedness,” as biological systems often only recognize one specific three-dimensional configuration of a molecule. The new method starts with readily available natural amino acid building blocks, allowing for the efficient introduction of new chemical groups. The researchers demonstrated the strategy through 43 examples of UAAs and peptides, providing building blocks that could be used to engineer proteins with novel properties.