From crystals to enzymes: simple models of molecular recognition

Structural models resulting from the x-ray crystal structure determination of small molecules are shown to be closely mimicking some of the protein structure and function features. Crystals of inclusion compounds, a special type of solid molecular associates, lend special support to such a view. They are inherently suited for such modelling purposes due to easily visible association and molecular recognition effects. It is envisaged that combination of the analysis of high-resolution small molecule crystallographic models and those of protein structures will yield to further fruitful analogies.