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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Published on: January 17, 2020
Mechanisms and structures of crotonase superfamily enzymes--how nature controls enolate and oxyanion reactivity
R B Hamed1, E T Batchelar, I J Clifton
1Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TA, UK.
Abstract:
Structural and mechanistic studies on the crotonase superfamily (CS) are reviewed with the aim of illustrating how a conserved structural platform can enable catalysis of a very wide range of reactions. Many CS reactions have precedent in the 'carbonyl' chemistry of organic synthesis; they include alkene hydration/isomerization, aryl-halide dehalogenation, (de)carboxylation, CoA ester and peptide hydrolysis, fragmentation of beta-diketones and C-C bond formation, cleavage and oxidation. CS enzymes possess a canonical fold formed from repeated betabetaalpha units that assemble into two approximately perpendicular beta-sheets surrounded by alpha-helices. CS enzymes often, although not exclusively, oligomerize as trimers or dimers of trimers. Two conserved backbone NH groups in CS active sites form an oxyanion 'hole' that can stabilize enolate/oxyanion intermediates. The range and efficiency of known CS-catalyzed reactions coupled to their common structural platforms suggest that CS variants may have widespread utility in biocatalysis.
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