Jeongchan Lee et al.
Nature chemical biology, 17(1), 104-112 (2020-11-04)
Tyrian purple, mainly composed of 6,6'-dibromoindigo (6BrIG), is an ancient dye extracted from sea snails and was recently demonstrated as a biocompatible semiconductor material. However, its synthesis remains limited due to uncharacterized biosynthetic pathways and the difficulty of regiospecific bromination.