Reedijk Symposium 2015 - Guest Lecturers: Prof. Bas de Bruin & Prof. Dame Carol Robinson
On Friday October 30th 2015 the sixth annual Jan Reedijk Symposium will be held. The main lectures of the day will be "Catalytic Radical-Type Transformations; Catalytic Reactivity of Carbene and Nitrene Radicals" by invited speaker Prof. Bas de Bruin (UvA), and "Structural biology in the gas phase – the first 25 years" by Prof. Dame Carol Robinson (Oxford University). Prof. Robinson will also receive the Havinga Medal. Poster presentations by PhD students are also part of the programme.
Prof. Bas de Bruin: Catalytic Radical-Type Transformations
Radicals are intrinsically reactive, and were long believed to be too reactive to be selective. However, in the coordination sphere of transition metals highly selective radical-type processes are certainly possible. In fact, radical-type reactions are tremendously important in several bio-synthetic pathways mediated by metallo-enzymes. Nature solves its most difficult and most interesting bio-synthetic problems with radical-reactivity. Yet, despite their radical-nature, these reactions proceed with ultrahigh precision and selectivity.
Inspired by such intriguing catalytic radical-type transformations mediated by metallo-enzymes, we are currently investigating new catalytic radical-type transformations mediated by synthetic (open-shell) organometallic catalysts. Special interest in such open-shell organometallic species comes from their expected higher and different reactivity compared to their closed-shell counterparts, and these ‘metallo-radical complexes’ may well allow us to steer and control radical-type reactions.
In this contribution we will discuss the available bio-inspired tools to steer and control (ligand) radicals within the coordination sphere of transition metals, and disclose their application in carbene- and nitrene-transfer reactions.
Reactivity studies, EPR spectroscopy and complementary DFT calculations are used to unravel the open-shell pathways of the paramagnetic Co
II, Rh
II, and Ir
II species.
Prof. Dame Carol Robinson
Since the first mass spectra of non-covalent protein complexes were reported, focusing on soluble complexes, it became possible to elucidate ligand binding properties and subsequently to define subunit interaction maps and topological models. A long term goal for our laboratory has been to extend the approaches developed for soluble complexes to one of the most challenging biological targets - that of membrane proteins and their assemblies.
Recent discoveries have enabled delivery of membrane complexes from detergent micelles in solution. By maintaining interactions between membrane and cytoplasmic subunits in the gas phase, it is now possible to investigate the effects of lipids, nucleotides and drugs on intact membrane assemblies. These investigations reveal allosteric and synergistic effects of small molecule binding and expose the consequences of post-translational modifications.
In her lecture Prof. Robinson will present recent progress in the study of protein complexes, focusing particularly on complexes extracted from membranes, and outline future prospects for gas phase structural biology.