Building out on work initiated at CalTech, the Provivi mission is to provide disruptive chemistry solutions for agricultural, household, and professional pest control that are safe, environmentally benign and have improved performance. Involving those having experience in biotechnology (including biocatalysis), the fine chemicals industry, and agchem, the firm is developing innovative biocatalysis and fermentation technology to produce these products. Provivi's technology platform is based on breakthrough biocatalysts that enable efficient synthesis of biopesticides. Included in the firm's arsenal of biocatalyts are ones that catalyze the transfer of carbenes, nitrenes, and oxenes to olefins and carbon-hydrogen bonds, thus installing important functional groups (e.g. cyclopropanes, amines, alcohols, epoxides, sulfoxides, sulfoximines, and ethers) that feature in various chiral pesticides.
