9th Annual WML Academic Symposium

Presenter(s): Peter Robbins
Title: Creation of a Metalloenzyme for Friedel-Crafts Alkylation
Developed under the guidance of Dr. Evan Reynolds , College of Arts & Sciences

To increase the utility of enzymes in chemical synthesis, our lab has addressed the challenge of finding a protein that can accommodate synthetic metal complexes. A computational method was developed to rapidly search the entire Protein Data Bank (PDB) for protein structures that possess a cavity large enough to harbor a particular metal catalyst. This method was used to identify five proteins capable of harboring a copper-phenanthroline complex. The genes of these proteins were were cloned and expressed, and a copper-phenathroline complex was introduced. The activity of these artificial metalloenzymes was then characterized in a model Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction.