Strigolactone plant hormones control plant architecture and are key players in both symbiotic and parasitic interactions. They contain an ABC tricyclic lactone connected to a butenolide group, the D ring. The DWARF14 (D14) strigolactone receptor belongs to the superfamily of α/β-hydrolases, and is known to hydrolyze the bond between the ABC lactone and the D ring. Here we characterized the bind...

Honey bees face many environmental stressors, including exposure to pesticides and pathogens. A novel butenolide pesticide, flupyradifurone, was recently introduced the US shown have a bee-friendly toxicity profile. Like much-scrutinized neonicotinoids that preceded it, flupyradifurone targets insect nervous system. Some been interfere with antiviral immunity, which raised concern similar effec...

The first enantioselective organocatalytic Mukaiyama-Michael reaction using alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes has been accomplished. The use of iminium catalysis has provided a new strategy for the enantioselective addition of 2-silyloxy furans to unsaturated aldehydes to generate a variety of butenolide systems, an important chiral synthon found among many natural isolates. The (2S,5S)-5-benzyl...