Shining on PyrroloQuinoline Quinone

This illustration was inspired by and article from Cathleen Zeymer and her team.
This article explores how pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), found in some enzymes, can be activated by visible light to spark chemical reactions in a gentle and precise way. The team first showed that a modified form of PQQ could act on its own, driving a specific reaction that joins together molecules to form ring structures, simply by shining blue light on the mixture.

The scientists went a step further by testing enzymes that naturally use PQQ as part of their structure. They found these enzymes could also carry out the same light-powered chemistry in water, again building new ring-shaped molecules, but with an extra benefit: the enzymes could influence which “handedness” (or shape) the products had, something very important for making medicines and other specialized compounds. By tweaking conditions and choosing different enzymes, they managed to create products with high precision and selectivity.

In the end, the work reveals that PQQ and its natural enzyme partners can open up new ways to do light-driven chemistry that is both clean and highly controllable. Because PQQ is easy to get and enzymes are highly specific, these discoveries could lead to more efficient and sustainable methods for making complex chemicals in the future, all just by flipping on a light and letting nature’s own machinery do the work.