Influence of PEGylation on Domain Dynamics of Phosphoglycerate Kinase: PEG Acts Like Entropic Spring for the Protein.

Protein-polymer conjugation is a widely used technique to develop protein therapeutics with improved pharmacokinetic properties as prolonged half-life, higher stability, water solubility, lower immunogenicity, and antigenicity. Combining biochemical methods, small angle scattering (SAXS/SANS), and neutron spin-echo spectroscopy, here we examine the impact of PEGylation (i.e., the covalent conjugation with poly(ethylene glycol) or PEG) on structure and internal domain dynamics of phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) to elucidate the reason for reduced activity that is connected to PEGylation. PGK is a protein with a hinge motion between the two main domains that is directly related to function. We find that secondary structure and ligand access to the binding sites are not affected. The ligand induced cleft closing is unchanged. We observe an additional internal motion between covalent bonded PEG and the protein compatible with Brownian motion of PGK in a harmonic potential. Entropic interaction with the full PEG chain leads to a force constant of about 8 pN/nm independent of PEG chain length. This additional force preserves protein structure and has negligible effects on the functional domain dynamics of the protein. PEGylation seems to reduce activity just by acting as a local crowder for the ligands. The newly identified interaction mechanism might open possibilities to improve rational design of protein-polymer conjugates.

On the concept of hemilability: insights into a donor-functionalized iridium(I) NHC motif and its impact on reactivity.

Novel iridium(I) complexes bearing N-donor-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene ligands were synthesized. Although hemilabile coordination of the attached donor is considered beneficial in catalysis, no detailed study of this phenomenon in these systems is available to date. The present report provides insight into the hemilabile bonding properties of a N,N'-bis(pyridin-2-yl)-imidazolylidene (NCN) ligand motif on iridium(I). In most cases, the presented compounds exhibit rare fluxional hemilabile coordination of the N donor, and remarkable performance in catalytic transfer hydrogenation is observed. Further, extensive reactivity studies often led to unexpected products.

Synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of furan- and thiophene-functionalized bis(N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes of iron(II).

The synthesis of iron(II) complexes bearing new heteroatom-functionalized methylene-bridged bis(N-heterocyclic carbene) ligands is reported. All complexes are characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Tetrakis(acetonitrile)-cis-[bis(o-imidazol-2-ylidenefuran)methane]iron(II) hexafluorophosphate (2a) and tetrakis(acetonitrile)-cis-[bis(o-imidazol-2-ylidenethiophene)methane]iron(II) hexafluorophosphate (2b) were obtained by aminolysis of [Fe{N(SiMe3)2}2(THF)] with furan- and thiophene-functionalized bis(imidazolium) salts 1a and 1b in acetonitrile. The SC-XRD structures of 2a and 2b show coordination of the bis(carbene) ligand in a bidentate fashion instead of a possible tetradentate coordination. The four other coordination sites of these distorted octahedral complexes are occupied by acetonitrile ligands. Crystallization of 2a in an acetone solution by the slow diffusion of Et2O led to the formation of cis-diacetonitriledi[bis(o-imidazol-2-ylidenefuran)methane]iron(II) hexafluorophosphate (3a) with two bis(carbene) ligands coordinated in a bidentate manner and two cis-positioned acetonitrile molecules. Compounds 2a and 2b are the first reported iron(II) carbene complexes with four coordination sites occupied by solvent molecules, and it was demonstrated that those solvent ligands can undergo ligand-exchange reactions.

Catalytic hydroxylation of benzene and toluene by an iron complex bearing a chelating di-pyridyl-di-NHC ligand.

This work reports on iron-catalysed hydroxylation of benzene and toluene using aqueous H2O2. While benzene is hydroxylated with a high selectivity to phenol, toluene is hydroxylated to cresols with a high selectivity for the ortho and para-position. An inverse KIE indicates the presence of a high valent Fe=O species during catalysis.