Artificial Metalloenzymes

Artificial metalloenzymes have been a rapidly growing field in the last few years, as they promise to become a powerful tool for augmenting and controlling the properties of classical homogeneous, inorganic catalysts. Understanding how these systems work from a bottom-up approach has the potential to unlock entire new fields, with uses spanning from medicine to industrial synthesis.

All previous studies on artificial metalloenzymes utilize non-directly co-ordinating methods to generate complexes between transition metals and peptides. However, these methods fall short in unlocking the full potential of these systems. This project examines the co-ordination sphere requirements for catalytically active metal-peptide complexes as a primary research goal. The aim is to create a true augmented active site with stereo-chemical and substrate specific activity comparable to natural metalloenzymes.