Strem Chemicals, a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for research and development and Provivi, a developer of biopesticides, have signed an agreement granting Strem distribution rights for research quantities of Provivi's carbene/nitrene transferase enzymes that will feature in the new C/N Transferase Screening Kit.

The kit contains 32 enzymes engineered in the laboratory of Professor Frances Arnold at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) at Pasadena, for which Provivi has obtained a worldwide exclusive license. This allows researchers to quickly screen a small number of diverse biocatalysts to pick the best solution.

Using the technology, enzymes can efficiently activate diazo and azide compounds to generate iron-carbenoids and iron-nitrenoids through a mode of activation that the companies said has never been observed in nature. The activated intermediates can react with a variety of substrates such as olefins, N-H bonds, C-H bonds, and sulfides, offering great synthetic utility, as for example in the synthesis of chiral cyclopropanes and sulfimides.

Provivi CEO Pedro Coelho said Strem's established network of scientific customers will be able to use the enzymes to develop highly efficient strategies for the synthesis of drugs, pesticides, and other fine chemicals.

Ephraim Honig, COO of Strem, said the addition of the C/N Transferase Screening Kit will provide new pathways to the enantioselective synthesis of important functional groups extending the tools available to synthetic scientists.