An experimental protocol that provides an excellent way to discuss concepts at the crossroads of organic chemistry and biochemistry employing biocatalysis is presented. By evaluating several reaction parameters (enzyme source, organic solvent, and acyl donor), it was possible to conduct an enzymatic kinetic resolution experiment using…

A signature of life is that biological molecules occur as a single stereoisomer with respect to each chiral center, and this is echoed in the structures of biological polymers. Thus, circular dichroism (CD) has emerged as a hallmark of biomolecular structures. The tangible and familiar phenomenon of raw egg white's conversion from transparent…

Over the past decade, mechanistic cross-linking probes have been used to study protein-protein interactions in natural product biosynthetic pathways. This approach is highly interdisciplinary, combining elements of protein biochemistry, organic chemistry, and computational docking. Herein, we described the development of an experiment to engage…

Use of advanced mass spectrometry techniques in the undergraduate setting has burgeoned in the past decade. However, relatively few undergraduate experiments examine the proteomics tools of protein digestion, peptide accurate mass determination, and database searching, also known as peptide mass fingerprinting. In this experiment, biochemistry…

This laboratory exercise demonstrates the use of an immunoassay for studying kinase enzyme activity in living cells. The advantage over the classical method, in which students have to isolate the enzyme from cell material and measure its activity in vitro, is that enzyme activity is modulated and measured in living cells, providing a more…

This article presents a tangible model used to help students tackle some misconceptions about enzyme actions, particularly the induced-fit model, enzyme-substrate complementarity, and enzyme inhibition. The model can simulate how substrates induce a change in the shape of the active site and the role of attraction force during enzyme-substrate…

Enzyme stereospecificity and equilibrium thermodynamics can be demonstrated using the coupling of two amino acid derivatives by Thermoase C160. This protease will catalyze peptide bond formation between Z-L-AspOH and L-PheOMe to form the Aspartame precursor Z-L-Asp-L-PheOMe. Reaction completion manifests itself by precipitation of the product. As…

This organic laboratory experiment introduces students to stereoselective enzyme reactions, resolution of enantiomers, and NMR analysis of diastereomers. The reaction between racemic 1-phenylethanol and vinyl acetate in hexane to form an ester is catalyzed by acylase I. The unreacted alcohol is then treated with a chiral acid and the resulting…

Although the development of next-generation (NextGen) sequencing technologies has revolutionized genomic research and medicine, the incorporation of these topics into the classroom is challenging, given an implied high degree of technical complexity. We developed an easy-to-implement, interactive classroom activity investigating the similarities…

Environmentally benign chemistry is an increasingly important topic both in the classroom and the laboratory. In this experiment, students synthesize divanillin from vanillin or diapocynin from apocynin, using horseradish peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide in water. The dimerized products form rapidly at ambient temperature and are isolated by…

We developed a modular pair of experiments for use in the undergraduate physical chemistry and biochemistry laboratories. Both experiments examine the thermodynamics of the binding of a small molecule, eosin Y, to the protein lysozyme. The assay for binding is the quenching of lysozyme fluorescence by eosin through resonant energy transfer. In…

An experiment using [superscript 1]H NMR spectroscopy to observe the kinetics of the acylase 1-catalyzed hydrolysis of "N"-acetyl-DL-methionine has been developed for the organic laboratory. The L-enantiomer of the reactant is hydrolyzed completely in less than 2 h, and [superscript 1]H NMR spectroscopic data from a single sample can be worked up…

Hands-on, inquiry-based, and relevant to every student's life, "Gourmet Lab" serves up a full menu of activities for science teachers of grades 6-12. This collection of 15 hands-on experiments--each of which includes a full set of both student and teacher pages--challenges students to take on the role of scientist and chef, as they boil,…

Biodiesel was produced by transesterification of waste olive oil with methanol and Novozym [R] 435. The effect of the molar ratio of methanol to triolein, mode of methanol addition, reaction temperature, and mixing speed on biodiesel yield was determined. The effect of different acyl acceptors and/or solvents on biodiesel yield was also evaluated.…

This laboratory project is one component of a semester-long advanced biochemistry laboratory course that uses several complementary techniques to study tRNA[superscript Phe] conformational changes induced by ligand binding. In this article we describe a set of experiments in which the thermal unfolding of tRNA[superscript Phe] is studied with…