De novo design of lanthanide coiled coils for asymmetric catalysis
Herein, we propose to design de novo (“from scratch”), a new class of lanthanide coiled coils (LCC) for chiral catalysis in water. The attractive features of Lnn+ complexes (strong and hard Lewis acidity, high coordination numbers and rapid ligand-exchange kinetics), will for the first time be coupled with de novo designed coiled coils, which offer the advantages of the protein ligand in metalloenzymes, for applications in catalysis.The resulting novel LCCs will exploit the peptide fold, chirality and second sphere residues, in order to perform exquisite chiral catalysis in water. This programme of work will provide a new strategy for unlocking the full potential of science at the interface of biology and inorganic chemistry, by combining previously unexplored ligands with traditional inorganic complexes, for applications beyond those offered by biology. The complementary expertise of Dr Anbu (bioinorganic catalysis) and the supervisor Dr Peacock (metallopeptide design) offer the unique combination to realise the full catalytic potential of LCCs, and will, in conjunction with two planned short secondments, provide Dr Anbu with new and cutting-edge research training.