Synergy between chemo- and bio-catalysts in multi-step transformations

Cascade synthetic pathways, which allow multi-step conversions to take place in one reaction vessel, are crucial for the development of biomimetic, highly efficient new methods of chemical synthesis. Theoretically, the complexity introduced by combining processes could lead to an improvement of the overall process; however, it is the current general belief that it is more efficient to run processes separately. Inspired by natural cascade procedures we successfully combined a lipase catalyzed amidation with palladium catalyzed coupling reactions, simultaneously carried out on the same molecule. Unexpectedly, the bio- and chemo-catalyzed processes show synergistic behaviour, highlighting the complexity of multi-catalyst systems.