Atroposelective antibodies as a designed protein scaffold for artificial metalloenzymes

Design and engineering of protein scaffolds are crucial to create artificial metalloenzymes. Herein we report the first example of C-C bond formation catalyzed by artificial metalloenzymes, which consist of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and C₂ symmetric metal catalysts. Prepared as a tailored protein scaffold for a binaphthyl derivative (BN), mAbs bind metal catalysts bearing a 1,1'-bi-isoquinoline (BIQ) ligand to yield artificial metalloenzymes. These artificial metalloenzymes catalyze the Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction. In the presence of mAb R44E1, the reaction proceeds with 88% ee. The reaction catalyzed by Cu-catalyst incorporated into the binding site of mAb R44E1 is found to show excellent enantioselectivity with 99% ee. The protein environment also enables the use of BIQ-based catalysts as asymmetric catalysts for the first time.