The BMBF project HyTech has been granted to our group, in which course we will deal with the engineering of Hydratases (EC4.2.1.x). These enzymes catalyze the addition of a water-molecule to non-activated carbon-carbon double bonds and thereby produce primary, secondary or tertiary alcohols with excellent atom economy, high regio- and stereoselectivity, respectively. This asymmetric hydration is currently impossible in organic chemistry even though the products are of high industrial interest. Together with recent enzyme engineering tools hydratases emerge as a powerful tool for generating various value-added products. Our group will focus on enzymes catalyzing diverse hydration reactions to open up their product space towards flavor and fragrance ingredients, pharmacological intermediates and pheromone building blocks.