Recent advances in HemN-like radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine enzyme-catalyzed reactions

Covering: 2012 to 2019HemN-like radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzymes have been recently disclosed to catalyze diverse chemically challenging reactions from primary to secondary metabolic pathways. In this highlight, we summarize the reaction examples catalyzed by HemN-like enzymes to date and the enzymatic mechanisms reported. From the recent mechanistic investigations, we reason that there is a shared initiating mechanism wherein a characteristic SAM methylene radical is proposed to abstract a hydrogen atom from an sp³ carbon or add onto an sp² carbon center although variations occur thereafter from reaction to reaction, as well as providing a brief insight into some future prospects.