Controlled oxidation of aliphatic CH bonds in metallo-monooxygenases: Mechanistic insights derived from studies on deuterated and fluorinated hydrocarbons

Choose Your Own Adventure: A Comprehensive Database of Reactions Catalyzed by Cytochrome P450 BM3 Variants

Cytochrome P450 BM3 monooxygenase is the topic of extensive research as many researchers have evolved this enzyme to generate a variety of products. However, the abundance of information on increasingly diversified variants of P450 BM3 that catalyze a broad array of chemistry is not in a format that enables easy extraction and interpretation. We present a database that categorizes variants by their catalyzed reactions and includes details about substrates to provide reaction context. This database of >1500 P450 BM3 variants is downloadable and machine-readable and includes instructions to maximize ease of gathering information. The database allows rapid identification of commonly reported substitutions, aiding researchers who are unfamiliar with the enzyme in identifying starting points for enzyme engineering. For those actively engaged in engineering P450 BM3, the database, along with this review, provides a powerful and user-friendly platform to understand, predict, and identify the attributes of P450 BM3 variants, encouraging the further engineering of this enzyme.

Methane in wastewater treatment plants: status, characteristics, and bioconversion feasibility by methane oxidizing bacteria for high value-added chemicals production and wastewater treatment

Methane is a type of renewable fuel that can generate many types of high value-added chemicals, however, besides heat and power production, there is little methane utilization in most of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) all round the world currently. In this review, the status of methane production performance from WWTPs was firstly investigated. Subsequently, based on the identification and classification of methane oxidizing bacteria (MOB), the key enzymes and metabolic pathway of MOB were presented in depth. Then the production, extraction and purification process of high value-added chemicals, including methanol, ectoine, biofuel, bioplastic, methane protein and extracellular polysaccharides, were introduced in detail, which was conducive to understand the bioconversion process of methane. Finally, the use of methane in wastewater treatment process, including nitrogen removal, emerging contaminants removal as well as resource recovery was extensively explored. These findings could provide guidance in the development of sustainable economy and environment, and facilitate biological methane conversion by using MOB in further attempts.

Selective Oxidation of Simple Aromatics Catalyzed by Nano-Biomimetic Metal Oxide Catalysts: A Mini Review

The process of selective oxy-functionalization of hydrocarbons using peroxide, O3, H2O2, O2, and transition metals can be carried out by the reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl/hydroperoxyl radical and/or metal oxygenated species generated in the catalytic reaction. Thus, a variety of mechanisms have been proposed for the selective catalytic oxidation of various hydrocarbons including light alkanes, olefins, and simple aromatics by the biological metalloproteins and their biomimetics either in their homogeneous or heterogeneous platforms. Most studies involving these metalloproteins are Fe or Cu monooxygenases. The pathways carried out by these metalloenzymes in the oxidation of C-H bonds invoke either radical reaction mechanisms including Fenton's chemistry and hydrogen atom transfer followed by radical rebound reaction mechanism or electrophilic oxygenation/O-atom transfer by metal-oxygen species. In this review, we discuss the metal oxide nano-catalysts obtained from metal salts/molecular precursors (M = Cu, Fe, and V) that can easily form in situ through the oxidation of substrates using H2O2(aq) in CH3CN, and be facilely separated from the reaction mixtures as well as recycled for several times with comparable catalytic efficiency for the highly selective conversion from hydrocarbons including aromatics to oxygenates. The mechanistic insights revealed from the oxy-functionalization of simple aromatics mediated by the novel biomimetic metal oxide materials can pave the way toward developing facile, cost-effective, and highly efficient nano-catalysts for the selective partial oxidation of simple aromatics.

Alkane Oxidation: Methane Monooxygenases, Related Enzymes, and Their Biomimetics

Methane monooxygenases (MMOs) mediate the facile conversion of methane into methanol in methanotrophic bacteria with high efficiency under ambient conditions. Because the selective oxidation of methane is extremely challenging, there is considerable interest in understanding how these enzymes carry out this difficult chemistry. The impetus of these efforts is to learn from the microbes to develop a biomimetic catalyst to accomplish the same chemical transformation. Here, we review the progress made over the past two to three decades toward delineating the structures and functions of the catalytic sites in two MMOs: soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) and particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO). sMMO is a water-soluble three-component protein complex consisting of a hydroxylase with a nonheme diiron catalytic site; pMMO is a membrane-bound metalloenzyme with a unique tricopper cluster as the site of hydroxylation. The metal cluster in each of these MMOs harnesses O₂ to functionalize the C-H bond using different chemistry. We highlight some of the common basic principles that they share. Finally, the development of functional models of the catalytic sites of MMOs is described. These efforts have culminated in the first successful biomimetic catalyst capable of efficient methane oxidation without overoxidation at room temperature.