Okuda, J.

ACS Catal., 2015, 10.1021/acscatal.5b01792

A series of Grubbs–Hoveyda type catalyst precursors for olefin metathesis containing a maleimide moiety in the backbone of the NHC ligand was covalently incorporated in the cavity of the β-barrel protein nitrobindin. By using two protein mutants with different cavity sizes and choosing the suitable spacer length, an artificial metalloenzyme for olefin metathesis reactions in water in the absence of any organic cosolvents was obtained. High efficiencies reaching TON > 9000 in the ROMP of a water-soluble 7-oxanorbornene derivative and TON > 100 in ring-closing metathesis (RCM) of 4,4-bis(hydroxymethyl)-1,6-heptadiene in water under relatively mild conditions (pH 6, T = 25–40 °C) were observed.

Okuda, J.; Schwaneberg, U.

Chem. - Eur. J., 2013, 10.1002/chem.201301515

A β‐barrel protein hybrid catalyst was prepared by covalently anchoring a Grubbs–Hoveyda type olefin metathesis catalyst at a single accessible cysteine amino acid in the barrel interior of a variant of β‐barrel transmembrane protein ferric hydroxamate uptake protein component A (FhuA). Activity of this hybrid catalyst type was demonstrated by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization of a 7‐oxanorbornene derivative in aqueous solution.

Okuda, J.

Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 2016, 10.3762/bjoc.12.124

Okuda, J.

Chem. - Asian J., 2015, 10.1002/asia.201403005

Okuda, J.

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2016, 10.1039/C6OB01475E

Okuda, J.; Sauer, D. F.

Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 2018, 10.3762/bjoc.14.265