Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 913-927.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63974-8

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Theoretical perspective on mononuclear copper-oxygen mediated C-H and O-H activations: A comparison between biological and synthetic systems

Peng Wu, Jinyan Zhang, Qianqian Chen, Wei Peng, Binju Wang*()   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surface, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China
  • Received:2021-09-24 Accepted:2021-09-24 Online:2022-03-05 Published:2021-12-28
  • Contact: Binju Wang
  • About author:Binju Wang obtained his PhD in 2012 from Xiamen University in China. After two periods of post-doctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (with Prof. Sason Shaik) and Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (with Prof. Carme Rovira), he joined Xiamen University in 2018 as a full professor. His current research interest focuses on the use of multiscale modeling to decipher the catalytic mechanisms of metalloenzymes, including O2 and H2O2 activations, electronic state and spin-state reactivities, protein environment effects, as well as the rational design of metalloenzymes for biocatalysis. Professor Wang has published over 60 peer reviewed publications.
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    These authors contributed equally.

  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Developement Program of China(2019YFA0906400);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22122305);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22121001);National Natural Science Foundation of China(21933009)

Abstract:

Dioxygen activations constitute one of core issues in copper-dependent metalloenzymes. Upon O2 activation, copper-dependent metalloenzymes such as particulate methane monooxygenases (pMMOs), lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) and binuclear copper enzymes PHM and DβM, are able to perform various challenging C-H bond activations. Meanwhile, various copper-oxygen core containing complexes have been synthetized to mimic the active species of metalloenzymes. Dioxygen activation by mononuclear copper active site may generate various copper-oxygen intermediates, including Cu(II)-superoxo, Cu(II)-hydroperoxo, Cu(II)-oxyl as well as the Cu(III)-hydroxide species. Intriguingly, all these species have been invoked as the potential active intermediates for C-H/O-H activations in either biological or synthetic systems. Due to the poor understanding on reactivities of copper-oxygen complex, the nature of active species in both biological and synthetic systems are highly controversial. In this account, we will compare the reactivities of various mononuclear copper-oxygen species between biological systems and the synthetic systems. The present study is expected to provide the consistent understanding on reactivities of various copper-oxygen active species in both biological and synthetic systems.

Key words: Dioxygen activation, Cu(II)-superoxo, Cu(II)-hydroperoxo, Cu(II)-oxyl, Cu(III)-hydroxide, C-H activation, Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase, Particulate methane monooxygenase