Bioinorganic Wonder

Figure 1. Oxidative coupling. Taken from Ref. [1].

This is a bioinorganic reaction, and this is potentially important even for synthetic chemistry. The oxidative coupling reaction catalyzed by the enzyme tyrosinase and the di-copper center is impressive (Figure 1) [1]. Given that cyclo-peptides are biologically important synthetic targets, further developments of these oxidative coupling strategies should be desirable. We can imagine the tyrosinase as some form of chiral ligands. Two possible questions to ask is : (1) Can we control the stserochemistry of α-carbon using a chiral catalyst and (2) Can we expand the scope of substrates, e.g. having a side-chain with an oxygen rather than a sulphur?

Reference:
1. Post-Translational His-Cys Cross-Linkage Formation in Tyrosinase Induced by Copper(II)−Peroxo Species
Nobutaka Fujieda, Takuya Ikeda, Michiaki Murata, Sachiko Yanagisawa, Shigetoshi Aono, Kei Ohkubo, Satoshi Nagao, Takashi Ogura, Shun Hirota, Shunichi Fukuzumi, Yukihiro Nakamura, Yoji Hata, and Shinobu Itoh
J. Am. Chem. Soc.
DOI: 10.1021/ja108280w