MetBioCat
ERC Advanced Grant Project

News

Please find below all relevant news regarding our Group.
Click on a headline in order to read the full article.

A brand new review at Chemical Science is already on-line

05/16/2022
Happy to announce our last review regarding "Organometallic Catalysis in Aqueous and Biological Environments" is already at the journal website

We are very glad to share here that our review at Chem. Sci., entitled "Organometallic Catalysis in Aqueous and Biological Environments: Harnessing the Power of Metal Carbenes" and authored by S. Gutiérrez, M. Tomás and J. L. Mascarenas, is already available through the journal website.

Abstract: Translating the power of transition metal catalysis to the native habitats of enzymes can significantly expand the possibilities of interrogating or manipulating natural biological systems, including living cells and organisms. This is especially relevant for organometallic reactions that have shown great potential in the field of organic synthesis, like the metalcatalyzed transfer of carbenes. While, at first sight, performing metal carbene chemistry in aqueous solvents, and especially in biologically relevant mixtures, does not seem obvious, in recent years there have been a growing number of reports demonstrating the feasibility of the task. Either using small molecule metal catalysts or artificial metalloenzymes, a number of carbene transfer reactions that tolerate aqueous and biorelevant media are being developed. This review intends to summarize the most relevant contributions, and establish the state of the art in this emerging research field.


External link: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/sc/d2sc00721e

Our first review for 2022 is already on-line

04/28/2022
Pleased to announce our review paper at Eur J. Org. Chem. has been accepted, and it's already available through the publisher website

We are so happy to announce here that our review article at EurJOC, entitled "Exporting Homogeneous Transition Metal Catalysts to Biological Habitats" and authored by A. Seoane and J. L. Mascarenas has been accepted and it's already on-line.

Abstract: The possibility of performing designed transition-metal catalyzed reactions in biological and living contexts can open unprecedented opportunities to interrogate and interfere with biology. However, the task is far from obvious, in part because of the presumed incompatibly between organometallic chemistry and complex aqueous environments.  Nonetheless, in the past decade there has been a steady progress in this research area, and several transition-metal (TM)-catalyzed bioorthogonal and biocompatible reactions have been developed. These reactions encompass a wide range of mechanistic profiles, which are very different from those used by natural metalloenzymes. Herein we present a summary of the latest progress in the field of TM-catalyzed bioorthogonal reactions, with a special focus on those triggered by activation of multiple carbon-carbon bonds.


External link: https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejoc.202200118

Congrats to Xandro, on his successful PhD defense

04/22/2022
Xandro Vidal was great today at his online PhD defense!

Xandro Vidal Pereira is our brand new Doctor in the group, after defending his PhD entitled "Azaheterocycles through Pd(II)-catalyzed formal cycloadditions involving C-H activation".

This PhD work, supervised by Prof. Mascareñas and Prof. Gulías, has received the highest qualification by the jury committee.

Congrats Xandro!!!



External link: https://twitter.com/ciqususc/status/1517513552982122496

See photo gallery

Our new publication for 2022 is available on-line

03/29/2022
After some time waiting for it, today our last Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. paper is already on-line

We are incredible happy to announce our last manuscript at Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., entitled "Palladium-Catalyzed Tandem Cycloisomerization/Cross-Couplingof Carbonyl- and Imine-Tethered Alkylidenecyclopropanes" and authored by F. Verdugo, R. Rodiño, M. Calvelo, J. L. Mascarenas and F. Lopez has been accepted and it's already on-line.

Abstract: Pd(0) catalysts featuring phosphorous-based monodentate ligands can detour the reactivity of carbonyl-tethered alkylidenecyclopropanes (ACPs) from standard (3+2) cycloadditions towards tandem cycloisomerization / cross-coupling processes. This new reactivity lies on the formation of key π-allyl oxapalladacyclic intermediates, which are subsequently trapped with external nucleophilic partners, instead of undergoing canonical C-O reductive eliminations. Importantly, the use of imine-tethered ACP’s is also feasible. Therefore, the method provides a straightforward and stereoselective entry to a wide variety of highly functionalized cyclic alcohols and amines.


External link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202202295

Our first publication for this brand new 2022 is on-line

01/26/2022
Happy to share our most recent RSC Adv. manuscript has been accepted, and it's available as Open Access through the publisher website

We are really pleased to announce here that our research article at RSC Adv., entitled "Deactivation of a dimeric DNA-binding peptide through a palladium-mediated self-immolative cleavage" and authored by J. Rodríguez, C. Pérez-González, M. Martínez-Calvo, J. Mosquera and J. L. Mascarenas has been accepted and it's already on-line (gold Open Access).


Abstract: Herein, we describe an approach for the on-demand disassembly of dimeric peptides using a palladium-mediated cleavage of a designed self-immolative linker. The utility of the strategy is demonstrated for the case of dimeric basic regions of bZIP transcription factors. While the dimer binds designed DNA sequences with good affinities, the peptide–DNA complex can be readily dismounted by addition of palladium reagents that trigger the cleavage of the spacer, and the release of unfunctional monomeric peptides.



External link: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/ra/d1ra09180h

Two further papers accepted over the last ten days, great! And both are open access

10/28/2021
So happy to announce our last review at ACIE and also a colaborative paper with Del Pino group at ACSnano are already available on-line

Here it is the short info for each of the articles.

ACSnano: "Plasmonic-Assisted Thermocyclizations in Living Cells Using Metal−Organic Framework Based Nanoreactors", authored by C. Carrillo-Carrión, R. Martínez, E. Polo, M. Tomás , P. Destito, M. Ceballos, B. Peláz, F. López, J. L. Mascareñas, P. Del Pino.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.: "Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Annulations Involving the Activation of C(sp3)−H Bonds", authored by M. Font, M. Gulías, J. L. Mascareñas.



External link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c07983

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of CiQUS, our research center

10/14/2021
The CiQUS workshop 2021 is now taking place

Today and tomorrow we are 'workshoping' for the 10 years of CiQUS research celebration. During the event, promotion of new synergies and intramural collaborations are central aims... looking forward ten further years of success.

It's been a while since the very beginning... and best is yet to come!



External link: https://twitter.com/MetBioCat/status/1448690500110888960

See photo gallery

Our former PhD student, and 'Xunta de Galicia' postdoctoral fellow, David F. Fernández has been working for almost two years in the research group of the brand-new Nobel Laureate David W. MacMillan

10/06/2021
David MacMillan, postdoctoral supervisor of David F. Fernández, has been awarded with the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

David F., nowadays a postdoc researcher at MacMillan's lab, received his PhD on July 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Mascareñas, Dr. López and Prof. Gulías, at the University of Santiago de Compostela. In 2017, he also performed a short stay at MacMillan's lab during his predoctoral stage.


He has been conducting his postdoctoral research at Princenton since January 2020, under the supervision of Dave MacMillan, 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, thanks to the funding from the 'Xunta de Galicia'. During 2+1 years duration of this fellowship he will complete his first postdoc stage, also under the cosupervision of Prof. Mascareñas.




External link: https://www.gciencia.com/ciencia/cientifico-lucense-no-equipo-do-nobel-de-quimica/

RSEQ-symposium-2021

09/26/2021
The contribution of our lab members to the RSEQ symposium has started today with the short-lecture of Soraya, 2021 Lilly-RSEQ Awards PhD Students

2021 RSEQ symposium started today and our lab member, Soraya Learte-Aymamí, has given her short-lecture at the Lilly session during this opening morning (11:15).

Congrats again to Soraya, 2021 Lilly-RSEQ Awardee for PhD Students,
who has shortly presented her PhD work during her talk entitled "Metallopeptides and metalloproteins in chemical biology: from DNA binding to intracellular catalysis" (https://twitter.com/MetBioCat/status/1442428275083472896)

So proud of you, Soraya!


Some other members of the group are also presenting their contributions as oral, flash or poster communications.

Hope you all enjoy the conference!!





External link: https://rseqsymposium2021.com/program

Our new mini-review at Trends Chem. is available on-line

09/25/2021
We are so happy to announce our last mini-review highlighting "(4 + 2) Cycloadditions via Pd C(sp3)–H activation" is already at the journal website

We are very glad to share here that our "Mechanism of the Month" piece at Trends Chem., entitled "(4 + 2) Cycloadditions via Pd C(sp3)–H activation" and authored by X. Vidal, M. Font, B. Cendón, J. L. Mascarenas and M. Gulias, is already available through the journal website.

NOTE: You might access to the lastest version of the article at ScienceDirect by using the following link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1dp4-9CpcYOzmZ, which will be available until November 13th, 2021




External link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2589597421001763