Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry - Welcome to the Lichtenecker Group

We are a team of scientists working at the frontier of organic chemistry to other disciplines like biological chemistry and structural biology. We focus on the implementation of small molecules as tools to study complex biological systems. In our current projects, we design 13C, 15N and 2H labeled metabolic amino acid precursor compounds, which can be used in cell-based protein overexpression. The target proteins show distinguished isotope patterns and represent valuable probes for biomolecular NMR experiments. Learn more about our research, see some structures of our labeled precursor compounds or read through our list of publications. If you need further information or want to collaborate on an interesting research topic don't hesitate to write to roman.lichtenecker@univie.ac.at.

 

Moreover, we are very active in teaching different aspects of chemistry at the University of Vienna with currently 5 lectures and 2 seminars per year.  We additionally offer courses for advanced chemistry students within the context of our research projects.

 

The project "Allospace" is funded by the FWF-ANR (project I5812).

Together with collaboration partners from France (D. Madern - CNRS; G. Santoni - ESRF; C. Brochier-Armanet - Univ. Lyon; F. Sterpone - CNRS; C. Barette - CEA) and Austria (P. Schanda - ISTA) we investigate the mechanisms and evolutionary origin of enzymatic allostery.

We are now part of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for knowledge-based structural biology and biotechnology

Together with our partner Prof. Robert Konrat (Univ. Vienna) and our industry collaborator Boeringer-Ingelheim, we investigate novel ways to probe the interaction of biomolecules using NMR techniques.

Recent publications

Synthesis of a 13C/2H Labeled Building Block to Probe the Phosphotyrosine Interactome Using Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy.

ChemBioChem 2024, accepted article, doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202400663

S. Kratzwald, Thomas C. Schwarz, K. Ledolter, M. Hlavac, M. Felkl, C.F.W. Becker, R. Konrat, R.J. Lichtenecker

Towards cost-effective-chain isotope labelling of proteins expressed in human cells.

J. Biomol. NMR 2024, published online 22.8.2024, doi.org/10.1007/s10858-024-00447-6

M. Rosati, L. Barbieri, M. Hlavac, S. Kratzwald, R.J. Lichtenecker, R. Konrat, E. Luchinat and L. Banci

Probing Protein-Ligand Methyl-Pi Interaction Geometries through Chemical Shift Measurements of Selectively Labeled Methyl Groups.

J. Med. Chem. 2024, 67, 15, 13187.

A. Beier, G. Platzer, T. Höfurthner, A.L. Ptaszek, R.J. Lichtenecker, L. Geist, J.E. Fuchs, D.B. McConnell, M. Mayer and R. Konrat

Exploring the pH dependence of an improved PETase.

Biophys. J. 2024, online, doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2024.04.026

C. Charlier, S. Gavalda, J. Grga, L. Perrot, V. Gabrielli, F. Löhr, J. Schörghuber, R. Lichtenecker, G. Arnal, A. Marty, V. Tournier, G. Lippens*

Decorating phenylalanine side-chains with triple labeled 13C/19F/2H isotope patterns.

J. Biomol. NMR 2024, published online 21.3.2024, doi.org/10.1007/s10858-024-00440-z

G. Toscano, J. Holzinger, B. Nagl, G. Kontaxis, H. Kählig, R. Konrat and R.J. Lichtenecker

13Cβ-Valine and 13Cγ-Leucine Methine Labeling To Probe Protein Ligand Interaction.

ChemBioChem 2024, published online 31.1.2024, doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202300762

G. Toscano, T. Höfurthner, B. Nagl, A. Beier, M. Mayer, L. Geist, D.B. McConnell, H. Weinstabl, R. Konrat, R.J. Lichtenecker

Synthesis of a 13C-methylene-labeled isoleucine precursor as a useful tool for studying protein side-chain interactions and dynamics.

J. Biomol. NMR 2023, published online 11.10.2023, doi.org/10.1007/s10858-023-00427-2

T. Höfurthner, G. Toscano, G. Kontaxis, A, Beier, M. Mayer, L. Geist, DB. McConnell, H. Weinstabl, R. Lichtenecker*, R. Konrat*

E. coli "Stablelabel" S30 lysate for optimized cell-free NMR sample preparation.

J. Biomol. NMR 2023, 77, 131- 147.

R. Levin, F. Löhr, B. Karakoc, R. Lichtenecker, V. Dötsch, F. Bernhard*

The rigid core and flexible surface of amyloid fibrils probed by Magic-Angle Spinning NMR of aromatic residues.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, 19, e202219314

L.M. Becker, M. Berbon, A. Vallet, A. Grelard, E. Morvan, B. Bardiaux, R. Lichtenecker, M. Ernst, A. Loquet, P. Schanda*

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Recent Group News

Our article Synthesis of a 13C/2H Labeled Building Block to Probe the Phosphotyrosine Interactome Using Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy was accepted for publication in ChemBioChem!

We developed a novel synthetic route to a carbon-13 and deuterated protected phosphotyrosine building block and applied this compound in the preparation of a SH2 domain binder using solid phase peptide synthesis. The approach resulted in simplified NOESY spectra to analyze the molecular details of the corresponding protein-peptide interface.

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