Selective Oxidation of Halophenols Catalyzed by an Artificial Miniaturized Peroxidase

• Main Authors: D’Alonzo, D. (Author), De Fenza, M. (Author), Lombardi, A. (Author), Nastri, F. (Author), Pavone, V. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2023
• Subjects: artificial peroxidase; chemoselectivity; halophenols; metalloenzyme design; miniaturization
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus
• ISBN: 16616596 (ISSN)
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24098058

The development of artificial enzymes for application in sustainable technologies, such as the transformation of environmental pollutants or biomass, is one of the most challenging goals in metalloenzyme design. In this work, we describe the oxidation of mono-, di-, tri- and penta-halogenated phenols catalyzed by the artificial metalloenzyme Fe-MC6*a. It promoted the dehalogenation of 4-fluorophenol into the corresponding 1,4-benzoquinone, while under the same experimental conditions, 4-chloro, 4-bromo and 4-iodophenol were selectively converted into higher molecular weight compounds. Analysis of the 4-chlorophenol oxidation products clarified that oligomers based on C-O bonds were exclusively formed in this case. All results show that Fe-MC6*a holds intriguing enzymatic properties, as it catalyzes halophenol oxidation with substrate-dependent chemoselectivity. © 2023 by the authors.