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Catalysis

Catalysis

The presence of a catalyst affects the rate of a chemical reaction. A catalyst is a substance that can increase the reaction rate without being consumed during the process. A basic comprehension of a catalysts’ role during chemical reactions can be understood from the concept of reaction mechanisms and energy diagrams.

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Encapsulating NHC-capped copper(i) complexes inside cyclodextrin for catalysis in living cells.

Francisca Figueiredo¹, Hugo Madec², Pierre Mesdom¹

¹Chimie ParisTech, PSL Université, CNRS, Institute of Chemistry for Life and Health Sciences 75005 Paris France gilles.gasser@chimieparistech.psl.eu kevin.cariou@chimieparistech.psl.eu https://www.gassergroup.com.

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|October 3, 2025

Summary

Researchers developed non-toxic copper catalysts for reactions within living cells. Encapsulating copper(i) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts in cyclodextrins (CD) preserved their activity while reducing toxicity, enabling new cellular chemistry.

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Area of Science:

Bioinorganic Chemistry
Catalysis
Chemical Biology

Background:

Metal-based catalysis is crucial for developing non-natural chemical reactions within living organisms.
Current catalysts often rely on expensive and rare heavy metals, limiting their broader application.
There is a significant need for catalysis using accessible first-row metals for in vivo applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop non-toxic, first-row metal-based catalysts for intracellular chemical reactions.
To investigate the use of cyclodextrin (CD) encapsulation to mitigate the toxicity of copper(i) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts.
To demonstrate the preserved catalytic activity of CD-encapsulated NHC-copper complexes for specific chemical transformations.

Main Methods:

Synthesis and characterization of copper(i) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts.
Encapsulation of NHC-copper complexes within modified cyclodextrins (CDs).
Evaluation of catalyst cytotoxicity towards CT26 cells.
Assessment of catalytic activity for pinacol boronate ester deprotection in vitro and in living cells.

Main Results:

Cyclodextrin encapsulation rendered toxic copper(i) NHC complexes harmless to CT26 cells at high concentrations.
The catalytic activity of CD-encapsulated NHC-copper complexes was maintained.
The catalysts enabled the release of phenol-based fluorophores via deprotection of pinacol boronate ester groups, both extracellularly and intracellularly.
Fluorophore production in cells using CD-NHC-copper catalysts surpassed that of cellular machinery alone and endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Conclusions:

Cyclodextrin encapsulation is an effective strategy to reduce the toxicity of metal-based catalysts for intracellular applications.
NHC-copper catalysts encapsulated in CDs offer a promising platform for developing new bioorthogonal reactions.
This approach expands the toolkit for chemical biology and in vivo catalysis using earth-abundant metals.