Much binding in the lab

摘要

Chemists have often looked with awe at the dazzling array of biochemical functions and chemical transformations in nature. So, if nature can do it, why can't we? Part of the answer is, of course, the many millions of years over which natural selection has had time to optimize an enzyme active site or a protein-DNA interface, compared to the usual term of a research grant or the four or five years available to PhD students. Synthetic chemists are, nonetheless, on the case, and a clever way of creating molecular-recognition systems is described by Zimmerman et al. on page 399 of this issue. They have taken an important step in establishing a family of synthetic compounds that can be easily prepared and show recognition properties that bear comparison to those of antibodies.