Cover Picture: Methylation of Unactivated Alkenes with Engineered Methyltransferases To Generate Non‐natural Terpenoids (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 26/2023)

Abstract

A methyltransferase from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was identified and engineered for late-stage modifications of the carbon skeleton of terpenes. A variant with three changes in the amino acid sequence was able to produce methylated derivatives of linear terpenoids with high selectivity by C-methylation of an unactivated alkene. This opens new avenues for the modification of carbon scaffolds in various applications, as demonstrated by Bernhard Hauer et al. In their Communication (e202301601). The artwork was designed by Verena Resch, Graz.