Hydroxynitrile lyase discovery

Hydroxynitrile lyases (HNLs or oxynitrilases) catalyze C—C bond-forming reactions between an aldehyde or ketone and cyanide to form enantiopure cyanohydrins (Figure 1.15), which are versatile building blocks for the chiral synthesis of amino acids, hydroxy ketones, hydroxy acids, amines and so on [68], Screening of natural sources has led to the discovery of both... 

M. Dadashipour, Y. Asano, Hydroxynitrile lyases insights into biochemistry, discovery, and engineering, AGS Catal. 1 (2011) 1121-1149. 

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