Banse, F.; Mahy, J.-P.

Chem. - Eur. J. 2015, 21, 12188-12193, 10.1002/chem.201501755

An artificial metalloenzyme based on the covalent grafting of a nonheme FeII polyazadentate complex into bovine β‐lactoglobulin has been prepared and characterized by using various spectroscopic techniques. Attachment of the FeII catalyst to the protein scaffold is shown to occur specifically at Cys121. In addition, spectrophotometric titration with cyanide ions based on the spin‐state conversion of the initial high spin (S=2) FeII complex into a low spin (S=0) one allows qualitative and quantitative characterization of the metal center’s first coordination sphere. This biohybrid catalyst activates hydrogen peroxide to oxidize thioanisole into phenylmethylsulfoxide as the sole product with an enantiomeric excess of up to 20 %. Investigation of the reaction between the biohybrid system and H2O2 reveals the generation of a high spin (S=5/2) FeIII(η2‐O2) intermediate, which is proposed to be responsible for the catalytic sulfoxidation of the substrate.

Salmain, M.

Appl. Organomet. Chem. 2013, 27, 6-12, 10.1002/aoc.2929

Several ruthenium and rhodium complexes including 2,2′‐dipyridylamine ligands substituted at the central N atom by an alkyl chain terminated by a maleimide functional group were tested along with a newly synthesized Rh(III) complex of unsubstituted 2,2′‐dipyridylamine as catalysts in the transfer hydrogenation of aryl ketones in neat water with formate as hydrogen donor. All of them except one led to the secondary alcohol products with conversion rates depending on the metal complex. Site‐specific anchoring of the N‐maleimide complexes to the single free cysteine residue of the cysteine endoproteinase papain endowed this protein with transfer hydrogenase properties towards 2,2,2‐trifluoroacetophenone. Quantitative conversions were reached with the Rh‐based biocatalysts, while modest enantioselectivities were obtained in certain reactional conditions.

Kamer, P.C.J.; Laan, W.

ChemCatChem 2013, 5, 1184-1191, 10.1002/cctc.201200671

The development of artificial copper enzymes from sterol carrier protein type 2 like domain (SCP‐2L) for the use in asymmetric catalysis was explored. For this purpose, proteins were modified with various nitrogen donor ligands. Maleimide‐containing ligands were found most suitable for selective cysteine bio‐conjugation. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to confirm copper binding to an introduced phenanthroline ligand, which was introduced in two unique cysteine containing SCP‐2L mutants. Copper adducts of several modified SCP‐2L templates were applied in asymmetric Diels–Alder reactions. A clear influence of both the protein environment and the introduced ligand was found in the asymmetric Diels–Alder reaction between azachalcone and cyclopentadiene. A promising enantioselectivity of 25 % ee was obtained by using SCP‐2L V83C modified with phenanthroline–maleimide ligand. Good endo selectivity was observed for SCP‐2L modified with the dipicolylamine‐based nitrogen donor ligand. These artificial metalloenzymes provide a suitable starting point for the implementation of various available techniques to optimise the performance of this system.

Salmain, M.

Dalton Trans. 2014, 43, 5482-5489, 10.1039/c3dt53253d

Protein hybrids resulting from the supramolecular anchoring to bovine β-lactoglobulin of fatty acid-derived Rh(iii) diimine complexes catalysed the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of trifluoroacetophenone with up to 32% ee.

Salmain, M.

Org. Biomol. Chem. 2011, 9, 5720, 10.1039/c1ob05482a

Organometallic complexes of the general formula [(η6-arene)Ru(N⁁N)Cl]+ and [(η5-Cp*)Rh(N⁁N)Cl]+ where N⁁N is a 2,2′-dipyridylamine (DPA) derivative carrying a thiol-targeted maleimide group, 2,2′-bispyridyl (bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) or ethylenediamine (en) and arene is benzene, 2-chloro-N-[2-(phenyl)ethyl]acetamide or p-cymene were identified as catalysts for the stereoselective reduction of the enzyme cofactors NAD(P)+ into NAD(P)H with formate as a hydride donor. A thorough comparison of their effectiveness towards NAD+ (expressed as TOF) revealed that the RhIII complexes were much more potent catalysts than the RuII complexes. Within the RuII complex series, both the N⁁N and arene ligands forming the coordination sphere had a noticeable influence on the activity of the complexes. Covalent anchoring of the maleimide-functionalized RuII and RhIII complexes to the cysteine endoproteinase papain yielded hybrid metalloproteins, some of them displaying formate dehydrogenase activity with potentially interesting kinetic parameters.

Salmain, M.

Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 11984, 10.1039/c2cc36980j

Artificial metalloproteins resulting from the embedding of half-sandwich Ru(II)/Rh(III) fatty acid derivatives within β-lactoglobulin catalysed the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of trifluoroacetophenone with modest to good conversions and fair ee's.

Lewis, J.C.

Tetrahedron 2014, 70, 4245-4249, 10.1016/j.tet.2014.03.008

New catalysts for non-directed hydrocarbon functionalization have great potential in organic synthesis. We hypothesized that incorporating a Mn-terpyridine cofactor into a protein scaffold would lead to artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) in which the selectivity of the Mn cofactor could be controlled by the protein scaffold. We designed and synthesized a maleimide-substituted Mn-terpyridine cofactor and demonstrated that this cofactor could be incorporated into two different scaffold proteins to generate the desired ArMs. The structure and reactivity of one of these ArMs was explored, and the broad oxygenation capability of the Mn-terpyridine catalyst was maintained, providing a robust platform for optimization of ArMs for selective hydrocarbon functionalization.

Mahy, J.-P.; Ricoux, R.

Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2014, 22, 5678-5686, 10.1016/j.bmc.2014.05.063

A new zinc(II)-cofactor coupled to a testosterone anchor, zinc(II)-N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,3-diamino-propa-2-ol-N′(17′-succinimidyltestosterone) (Zn-Testo-BisPyPol) 1-Zn has been synthesized and fully characterized. It has been further associated with a neocarzinostatin variant, NCS-3.24, to generate a new artificial metalloenzyme following the so-called ‘Trojan horse’ strategy. This new 1-Zn-NCS-3.24 biocatalyst showed an interesting catalytic activity as it was found able to catalyze the hydrolysis of the RNA model HPNP with a good catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM = 13.6 M−1 s−1 at pH 7) that places it among the best artificial catalysts for this reaction. Molecular modeling studies showed that a synergy between the binding of the steroid moiety and that of the BisPyPol into the protein binding site can explain the experimental results, indicating a better affinity of 1-Zn for the NCS-3.24 variant than testosterone and testosterone-hemisuccinate themselves. They also show that the artificial cofactor entirely fills the cavity, the testosterone part of 1-Zn being bound to one the two subdomains of the protein providing with good complementarities whereas its metal ion remains widely exposed to the solvent which made it a valuable tool for the catalysis of hydrolysis reactions, such as that of HPNP. Some possible improvements in the ‘Trojan horse’ strategy for obtaining better catalysts of selective reactions will be further studied.