Engineering topics

Reback, Matthew L

Publications and source records attributed to Reback, Matthew L.

5 records

DOE OSTI2014

Beyond the Active Site: The Impact of the Outer Coordination Sphere on Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Production and Oxidation

Hydrogenase enzymes provide inspiration for investigations of molecular catalysts utilizing structural and functional mimics of the active site. However, the resulting active site mimics cannot match the combination of high rates and low overpotentials of the enzyme, suggesting that the rest of the protein scaffold, i.e., the outer coordination sphere, is necessary for the efficiency of hydrogenase. Therefore, inclusion of outer coordination sphere elements onto molecular catalysts may enable us to achieve and ultimately surpass the overall enzymatic efficiency. In an effort to identify and include the missing enzymatic features, there has been recent effort to understand the effect of outer coordination sphere elements on molecular catalysts for hydrogen oxidation and production. Our focus has been to utilize amino acid or peptide based scaffolds on an active functional mimic for hydrogen oxidation and production, [Ni(PR2NR’2)2]2+. This bottom-up approach, i.e, building an outer coordination sphere around a functional molecular catalyst, has allowed us to evaluate individual contributions to catalysis, including enhancing proton movement, concentrating substrate and introducing structural features to control reactivity. Collectively, these studies have resulted in catalysts that can operate faster, can operate at lower overpotentials, have enhanced water solubility, and/or can provide more stability to oxygen or extreme conditions such as strongly acidic or basic conditions than their unmodified parent complexes. Common mechanisms have yet to be defined to predictably control these processes but our growing knowledge in this area is essential for the eventual mimicry of enzymes for developing efficient molecular catalysts for practical use. This account reviews previously published work supported by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Physical Bioscience program, the Office of Science Early Career Research Program through the USDOE, BES, the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US DOE, Office of Science, Office of BES. Part of the research was conducted at the W.R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by U.S. DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research program located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.

bioinspired↗

DOE OSTI2014

Enzyme Design From the Bottom Up: An Active Nickel Electrocatalyst with a Structured Peptide Outer Coordination Sphere

Functional, peptide-containing metal complexes with a well-defined peptide structure have the potential to enhance molecular catalysts via an enzyme-like outer coordination sphere. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of an active, peptide-based metal complex built upon the well characterized hydrogen production catalyst, Ni(PPh2NPh)2. The incorporated peptide maintains its B-hairpin structure when appended to the metal core, and the electrocatalytic activity of the peptide-based metal complex (~100,000 s-1) is fully retained. The combination of an active molecular catalyst with a structured peptide outer coordination sphere provides a scaffold that permits the incorporation of features of an enzyme-like outer-coordination sphere necessary to create molecular electrocatalysts with en-hanced functionality.

bioinspired↗

DOE OSTI2013

The Role of a Dipeptide Outer-Coordination Sphere on H2 -Production Catalysts: Influence on Catalytic Rates and Electron Transfer

The outer-coordination sphere of enzymes acts to fine-tune the active site reactivity and control catalytic rates, suggesting that incorporation of analogous structural elements into molecular catalysts may be necessary to achieve rates comparable to those observed in enzyme systems at low overpotentials. In this work, we evaluate the effect of an amino acid and dipeptide outer-coordination sphere on [Ni(PPh2NPh-R2)2]2+ hydrogen production catalysts. A series of 12 new complexes containing non-natural amino acids or dipeptides were prepared to test the effects of positioning, size, polarity and aromaticity on catalytic activity. The non-natural amino acid was either 3-(meta- or para-aminophenyl)propionic acid terminated as an acid, an ester or an amide. Dipeptides consisted of one of the non-natural amino acids coupled to one of four amino acid esters: alanine, serine, phenylalanine or tyrosine. All of the catalysts are active for hydrogen production, with rates averaging ~1000 s-1, 40% faster than the unmodified catalyst. Structure and polarity of the aliphatic or aromatic side chains of the C-terminal peptide do not strongly influence rates. However, the presence of an amide bond increases rates, suggesting a role for the amide in assisting catalysis. Overpotentials were lower with substituents at the N-phenyl meta position. This is consistent with slower electron transfer in the less compact, para-substituted complexes, as shown in digital simulations of catalyst cyclic voltammograms and computational modeling of the complexes. Combining the current results with insights from previous results, we propose a mechanism for the role of the amino acid and dipeptide based outer-coordination sphere in molecular hydrogen production catalysts.

amino acid catalysts↗

DOE OSTI2012

Active Hydrogenation Catalyst with a Structured, Peptide-Based Outer-Coordination Sphere

The synthesis, catalytic activity, and structural features of a rhodium-based hydrogenation catalyst containing a phosphine ligand coupled to a 14-residue peptide are reported. Both CD and NMR spectroscopy show that the peptide adopts a helical structure in 1:1:1 TFE/MeCN/H2O that is maintained when the peptide is attached to the ligand and when the ligand is attached to the metal complex. The metal complex hydrogenates aqueous solutions of 3-butenol to 1-butanol at 360 ± 50 turnovers/Rh/h at 294 K. This peptide- based catalyst represents a starting point for developing and characterizing a peptide-based outer-coordination sphere that can be used to introduce enzyme-like features into molecular catalysts. This work was funded by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geoscience and Biosciences Division (AJ, JCL and WJS), the Office of Science Early Career Research Program through the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (GWB, MLR and WJS). Part of the research was conducted at the W.R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biolog-ical and Environmental Research (BER) program located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.

amino acid catalysts↗

DOE OSTI2012

Investigating the Role of the Outer-Coordination Sphere in [Ni(PPh2NPh-R2)2]2+ Hydrogenase Mimics

A series of dipeptide nickel complexes with the general formula, [Ni(PPh2NNNA-amino acid/ester2)2](BF4)2, have been synthesized and characterized (P2N2= 1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctane, amino acid/esters = glutamic acid, alanine, lysine, and aspartic acid). Each of these complexes is an efficient electrocatalyst for H2 production. The contribution of the outer-coordination sphere, specifically the impact of sterics, the ability to protonate and the pKa of amino acid side chain on the hydrogen production activity of these complexes, was investigated. The rates of all of the catalysts ranged over an order of magnitude. The amino acid containing complexes display 2-3 times higher rates of hydrogen production than the corresponding ester complexes, suggesting the significance of protonated species (side chains/backbone of amino acids) in the outer-coordination sphere. The largest had the fastest rates suggesting that catalytic activity is not hindered by sterics. However, the shapes of catalytic waves are indicative of hindered electron transfer and may suggest a competing mechanism for catalysis than that observed for the unsubstituted parent complex. These studies demonstrate the significant contribution that the outer-coordination sphere can have in tuning the catalytic activity of small molecule hydrogenase mimics.

08 HYDROGEN↗