Onoda, A.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 133-140, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.041

Hydrogenase catalyses reversible transformation of H2 to H+ using an active site which includes an iron or nickel atom. Synthetic model complexes and molecular catalysts inspired by nature have unveiled the structural and functional basis of the active site with remarkable accuracy and this has led to the discovery of active synthetic catalysts. To further improve the activity of such molecular catalysts, both the first and outer coordination spheres should be well-organized and harmonized for an efficient shuttling of H+, electrons, and H2. This article reviews recent advances in the design and catalytic properties of artificial enzymes that mimic the hydrogenase active site and the outer coordination sphere in combination with a peptide or protein scaffold.

Fontecave, M.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 36-47, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.018

There is an urgent need for cheap, abundant and efficient catalysts as an alternative to platinum for hydrogen production and oxidation in (photo)electrolyzers and fuel cells. Hydrogenases are attractive solutions. These enzymes use exclusively nickel and iron in their active sites and function with high catalytic rates at the thermodynamic equilibrium. As an alternative, a number of biomimetic and bioinspired catalysts for H2 production and/or uptake, based on Ni, Fe and Co, have been developed and shown to display encouraging performances. In this review we discuss specifically recent approaches aiming at incorporating these compounds within oligomeric and polymeric hosts. The latter are most often biological compounds (peptides, proteins, polysaccharides, etc.) but we also discuss non-biological scaffolds (synthetic polymers, Metal–organic-Frameworks, etc.) which can provide the appropriate environment to tune the activity and stability of the synthetic catalysts. These supramolecular catalytic systems thus define a class of original compounds so-called artificial hydrogenases.

Pecoraro, V.L.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 65-70, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.034

Three-helix bundles and coiled-coil motifs are well-established de novo designed scaffolds that have been investigated for their metal-binding and catalytic properties. Satisfaction of the primary coordination sphere for a given metal is sufficient to introduce catalytic activity and a given structure may catalyze different reactions dependent on the identity of the incorporated metal. Here we describe recent contributions in the de novo design of metalloenzymes based on three-helix bundles and coiled-coil motifs, focusing on non-heme systems for hydrolytic and redox chemistry.

Roelfes, G.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2014, 19, 135-143, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.02.002

Artificial metalloenzymes have emerged over the last decades as an attractive approach towards combining homogeneous catalysis and biocatalysis. A wide variety of catalytic transformations have been established by artificial metalloenzymes, thus establishing proof of concept. The field is now slowly transforming to take on new challenges. These include novel designs, novel catalytic reactions, some of which have no equivalent in both homogenous catalysis and biocatalysis and the incorporation of artificial metalloenzymes in chemoenzymatic cascades. Some of these developments represent promising steps towards integrating artificial metalloenzymes in biological systems. This review will focus on advances in this field and perspectives discussed.

Ward, T.R.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2010, 14, 184-199, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.11.026

In recent years, several complementary strategies have been implemented for the creation and optimization of artificial metalloenzymes. Selected examples outline the pros and cons of five different approaches: catalytic antibodies, computational design, directed evolution, artificial metal-cofactors and DNAzymes.

Ueno, T.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2018, 43, 68-76, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.11.015

Self-assembled proteins have specific functions in biology. With inspiration provided by natural protein systems, several artificial protein assemblies have been constructed via site-specific mutations or metal coordination, which have important applications in catalysis, material and bio-supramolecular chemistry. Similar to natural protein assemblies, protein crystals have been recognized as protein assemblies formed of densely-packed monomeric proteins. Protein crystals can be functionalized with metal ions, metal complexes or nanoparticles via soaking, co-crystallization, creating new metal binding sites by site-specific mutations. The field of protein crystal engineering with metal coordination is relatively new and has gained considerable attention for developing solid biomaterials as well as structural investigations of enzymatic reactions, growth of nanoparticles and catalysis. This review highlights recent and significant research on functionalization of protein crystals with metal coordination and future prospects.

Tezcan, F.A.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2014, 19, 42-49, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.12.013

Metal ions are frequently found in natural protein–protein interfaces, where they stabilize quaternary or supramolecular protein structures, mediate transient protein–protein interactions, and serve as catalytic centers. Paralleling these natural roles, coordination chemistry of metal ions is being increasingly utilized in creative ways toward engineering and controlling the assembly of functional supramolecular peptide and protein architectures. Here we provide a brief overview of this emerging branch of metalloprotein/peptide engineering and highlight a few select examples from the recent literature that best capture the diversity and future potential of approaches that are being developed.

Pordea, A.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 124-132, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.035

This review presents recent examples of metal-binding promiscuity in protein scaffolds and highlights the effect of metal variation on catalytic functionality. Naturally evolved binding sites, as well as unnatural amino acids and cofactors can bind a diverse range of metals, including non-biological transition elements. Computational screening and rational design have been successfully used to create promiscuous binding-sites. Incorporation of non-native metals into proteins expands the catalytic range of transformations catalysed by enzymes and enhances their potential for application in chemicals synthesis.

Lu, Y.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2014, 19, 67-75, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.01.006

Metalloenzymes are among the major targets of protein design and engineering efforts aimed at attaining novel and efficient catalysis for biochemical transformation and biomedical applications, due to the diversity of functions imparted by the metallo-cofactors along with the versatility of the protein environment. Naturally evolved protein scaffolds can often serve as robust foundations for sustaining artificial active sites constructed by rational design, directed evolution, or a combination of the two strategies. Accumulated knowledge of structure–function relationship and advancement of tools such as computational algorithms and unnatural amino acids incorporation all contribute to the design of better metalloenzymes with catalytic properties approaching the needs of practical applications.

Lewis, J.C.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 27-35, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.016

Metallopeptide catalysts and artificial metalloenzymes built from peptide scaffolds and catalytically active metal centers possess a number of exciting properties that could be exploited for selective catalysis. Control over metal catalyst secondary coordination spheres, compatibility with library based methods for optimization and evolution, and biocompatibility stand out in this regard. A wide range of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) have been incorporated into peptide and protein scaffolds using several distinct methods, and the resulting UAAs containing scaffolds can be used to create novel hybrid metal–peptide catalysts. Promising levels of selectivity have been demonstrated for several hybrid catalysts, and these provide a strong impetus and important lessons for the design of and optimization of hybrid catalysts.

Ball, Z.T.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 98-102, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.017

Chemical manipulation of natural, unengineered proteins is a daunting challenge which tests the limits of reaction design. By combining transition-metal or other catalysts with molecular recognition ideas, it is possible to achieve site-selective protein reactivity without the need for engineered recognition sequences or reactive sites. Some recent examples in this area have used ruthenium photocatalysis, pyridine organocatalysis, and rhodium(II) metallocarbene catalysis, indicating that the fundamental ideas provide opportunities for using diverse reactivity on complex protein substrates and in complex cell-like environments.

Ward, T.R.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2014, 19, 99-106, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.01.018

Herein, we highlight a selection of recent successes in the creation of artificial metalloenzymes. A particular emphasis is set on different anchoring methods to incorporate the abiotic metal cofactor within the host protein as well as promising strategies for the de novo design of artificial metalloenzymes. Both approaches yield promiscuous catalytic activities which expand the catalytic repertoire of biocatalysis and synthetic biology. Moreover, we summarize laboratory evolution protocols which have contributed to unravel the full potential of artificial metalloenzymes.

Lewis, J.C.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2017, 37, 48-55, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2016.12.027

Catalytic CH bond functionalization has become an important tool for organic synthesis. Metalloenzymes offer a solution to one of the foremost challenges in this field, site-selective CH functionalization, but they are only capable of catalyzing a subset of the CH functionalization reactions known to small molecule catalysts. To overcome this limitation, metalloenzymes have been repurposed by exploiting the reactivity of their native cofactors toward substrates not found in nature. Additionally, new reactivity has been accessed by incorporating synthetic metal cofactors into protein scaffolds to form artificial metalloenzymes. The selectivity and activity of these catalysts has been tuned using directed evolution. This review covers the recent progress in developing and optimizing both repurposed and artificial metalloenzymes as catalysts for selective CH bond functionalization.

Arnold, F.H.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2019, 49, 67-75, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2018.10.004

C–H functionalization is an attractive strategy to construct and diversify molecules. Heme proteins, predominantly cytochromes P450, are responsible for an array of C–H oxidations in biology. Recent work has coupled concepts from synthetic chemistry, computation, and natural product biosynthesis to engineer heme protein systems to deliver products with tailored oxidation patterns. Heme protein catalysis has been shown to go well beyond these native reactions and now accesses new-to-nature C–H transformations, including C–N and C–C bond forming processes. Emerging work with these systems moves us along the ambitious path of building complexity from the ubiquitous C–H bond.

Ueno, T.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2015, 25, 88-97, 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.12.026

Self-assembled protein cages providing nanosized internal spaces which are capable of encapsulating metal ions/complexes, enzymes/proteins have great potential for use as catalytic nanoreactors in efforts to mimic confined cellular environments for synthetic applications. Despite many uses in biomineralization, drug delivery, bio-imaging and so on, applications in catalysis are relatively rare. Because of their restricted size, protein cages are excellent candidates for use as vessels to exert control over reaction kinetics and product selectivity. Virus capsids with larger internal spaces can encapsulate multiple enzymes and can mimic natural enzymatic reactions. The apo-ferritin cage is known to accommodate various metal ions/complexes and suitable for organic transformation reactions in an aqueous medium. This review highlights the importance, prospects and recent significant research on catalytic reactions using the apo-ferritin cage and virus capsids.