title: Organic Chemistry of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions, Revised Edition
author: Richard B. Silverman Ph.D Organic Chemistry
description: Praise for the First Edition:<br />"Silverman's newest contribution will serve as an outstanding text and reference on the reaction mechanisms of enzymes. ... His treatment of the topic should also appeal to a broad range of organic, medicinal, and biological chemists who desire an up-to-date and succinct overview of the field. Silverman should be congratulated ... should quickly become the standard for mechanistic studies." <b>--JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY</b>
zlib_text: Hydroxynitrile lyases (Hnls) are enzymes that catalyse the stereoselective addition of
  hydrocyanic acid to aldehydes and ketones and the reverse reaction, the decomposition of
  cyanohydrins. This biotransformation (in the synthesis direction) can generate a product
  with a new chiral centre which possesses geminal difunctionality, i.e. a hydroxyl and nitrile
  moiety at a single carbon atom, and which also represents a versatile synthetic intermediate in
  organic chemistry.Currently,this area of research is sufficiently well established that enzymes
  for the synthesis of either (R)- or (S)-cyanohydrins are available. The Hnl from almonds,
  Prunus amygdalus (PaHnl), provides an easy access to (R)-cyanohydrins. Further, recent
  advances in cloning and overexpression techniques have provided two of these (S)-Hnl
  enzymes,those from Hevea brasiliensis (HbHnl) and Manihot esculenta (MeHnl),in sufficient
  quantities for potential application to industrial syntheses. Further, the crystallisation of the