$re = '/([^\s]*\s*)\\\\rem\{(?:lp|db)\}(\{((?>[^{}]|\n|(?2))*)\})(\s?[^\s]*)/m';
$str = '
Some text etc word\\rem{lp}{ more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps}.
\\rem{lp}{ more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps
where more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps from
who more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps.}
\\rem{lp}{ more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps.
more text {\\ce{O2}} further text {\\ce{H2O}} . some other text the $m = 48$ ({\\ce{O2}}) ps.}
\\subsection{other}
Our bla bla bla';
$subst = "$1\\textcolor{red}{\\underline{<<ReTe>>}}$4";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php