New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed a new visible-light-driven chemical strategy for the precise synthesis of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) and peptides, a development that could aid the design of next-generation medicines and biomolecules.

The research, led by Prof Ravi P Singh of the Department of Chemistry at IIT Delhi, uses light energy and a chiral copper catalyst-ligand system to control chemical transformations with a high degree of selectivity.

Unnatural amino acids are modified versions of naturally occurring amino acids and are increasingly used in medicine and biotechnology to develop molecules with improved stability, longer activity and better target selectivity....