FAST AMIDE CLEAVAGE UNDER MILD CONDITIONS - AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO BIOORGANIC CATALYSIS

The noncovalent aggregation of hexadecanoate in aqueous phosphate buffer with 3% acetonitrile gives rise to “catalytic clumps” that catalyze the hydrolysis of the amide group in 1. Amide cleavage is achieved with 108‐fold acceleration with catalyst concentrations of 10−5M at pH 7–8. These extremely simple catalysts, whose activity equals or exceeds that of catalytic antibodies, were found by rapid screening of hundreds of organic “clumps”. (Formula Presented.) Copyright © 1994 by VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Germany