TY - JOUR
T1 - Origin of High Stereocontrol in Olefin Cyclopropanation Catalyzed by an Engineered Carbene Transferase
AU - Tinoco, Antonio
AU - Wei, Yang
AU - Bacik, John Paul
AU - Carminati, Daniela M.
AU - Moore, Eric J.
AU - Ando, Nozomi
AU - Zhang, Yong
AU - Fasan, Rudi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Recent advances in metalloprotein engineering have led to the development of a myoglobin-based catalyst, Mb(H64V,V68A), capable of promoting the cyclopropanation of vinylarenes with high efficiency and high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Whereas many enzymes evolved in nature often exhibit catalytic proficiency and exquisite stereoselectivity, how these features are achieved for a non-natural reaction has remained unclear. In this work, the structural determinants responsible for chiral induction and high stereocontrol in Mb(H64V,V68A)-catalyzed cyclopropanation were investigated via a combination of crystallographic, computational (DFT), and structure-activity analyses. Our results show the importance of steric complementarity and noncovalent interactions involving first-sphere active site residues, heme-carbene, and the olefin substrate in dictating the stereochemical outcome of the cyclopropanation reaction. High stereocontrol is achieved through two major mechanisms: first, by enforcing a specific conformation of the heme-bound carbene within the active site, and second, by controlling the geometry of attack of the olefin on the carbene via steric occlusion, attractive van der Waals forces, and protein-mediated π-π interactions with the olefin substrate. These insights could be leveraged to expand the substrate scope of the myoglobin-based cyclopropanation catalyst toward nonactivated olefins and to increase its cyclopropanation activity in the presence of a bulky α-diazo-ester. This work sheds light on the origin of enzyme-catalyzed enantioselective cyclopropanation, furnishing a mechanistic framework for both understanding the reactivity of current systems and guiding the future development of biological catalysts for this class of synthetically important, abiotic transformations.
AB - Recent advances in metalloprotein engineering have led to the development of a myoglobin-based catalyst, Mb(H64V,V68A), capable of promoting the cyclopropanation of vinylarenes with high efficiency and high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Whereas many enzymes evolved in nature often exhibit catalytic proficiency and exquisite stereoselectivity, how these features are achieved for a non-natural reaction has remained unclear. In this work, the structural determinants responsible for chiral induction and high stereocontrol in Mb(H64V,V68A)-catalyzed cyclopropanation were investigated via a combination of crystallographic, computational (DFT), and structure-activity analyses. Our results show the importance of steric complementarity and noncovalent interactions involving first-sphere active site residues, heme-carbene, and the olefin substrate in dictating the stereochemical outcome of the cyclopropanation reaction. High stereocontrol is achieved through two major mechanisms: first, by enforcing a specific conformation of the heme-bound carbene within the active site, and second, by controlling the geometry of attack of the olefin on the carbene via steric occlusion, attractive van der Waals forces, and protein-mediated π-π interactions with the olefin substrate. These insights could be leveraged to expand the substrate scope of the myoglobin-based cyclopropanation catalyst toward nonactivated olefins and to increase its cyclopropanation activity in the presence of a bulky α-diazo-ester. This work sheds light on the origin of enzyme-catalyzed enantioselective cyclopropanation, furnishing a mechanistic framework for both understanding the reactivity of current systems and guiding the future development of biological catalysts for this class of synthetically important, abiotic transformations.
KW - Density Functional Theory
KW - biocatalytic carbene transfer
KW - enantioselective cyclopropanation
KW - heme carbenes
KW - myoglobin
KW - olefin cyclopropanation
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U2 - 10.1021/acscatal.8b04073
DO - 10.1021/acscatal.8b04073
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060679034
SN - 2155-5435
VL - 9
SP - 1514
EP - 1524
JO - ACS Catalysis
JF - ACS Catalysis
IS - 2
ER -