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The metabolism of living organisms could be harnessed to help construct small molecules, according to a team from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chemists routinely use
microbial enzymes as catalysts. But Emily Balskus and her colleagues instead used engineered _Escherichia coli_ as a source of reagent. They combined a palladium-based catalyst with the
hydrogen generated by the _E. coli_ to add hydrogen to a variety of alkenes (which contain double-bonded carbon atoms). Although the reaction was not as efficient as conventional methods,
the approach could produce molecules that cannot be made using biochemistry alone, the researchers argue. _Angew. Chem._ http://doi.org/f2sbt2 (2014) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and
permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Microbes pitch in with synthesis. _Nature_ 510, 447 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/510447a Download citation * Published: 25 June 2014 *
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