Search results for "Active site"
showing 4 items of 184 documents
DFT insights into the oxygen-assisted selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol on manganese dioxide catalysts
2020
Abstract The reactivity pattern of the MnO2 catalyst in the selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol is assessed by density functional theory (DFT) analysis of adsorption energies and activation barriers on a model Mn4O8 cluster. DFT calculations predict high reactivity of defective Mn(IV) sites ruling a surface redox mechanism, L-H type, involving gas-phase oxygen. Bare and promoted (i.e., CeOx and FeOx) MnOx materials with high surface exposure of Mn(IV) sites were synthesized to assess kinetic and mechanistic issues of the selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol on real catalysts (T, 333–363 K). According to DFT predictions, the experimental study shows: i) comparable activity…
Predicting the activity of single isolated Lewis acid sites in solid catalysts.
2006
An experimental study of the activity of Ti-, Zr- and Sn-beta catalysts in different types of oxidation reactions is combined with a quantum-chemical analysis of the electronic properties of the active sites and the adsorbed reactants. The differences observed in the catalytic behaviour of the three materials are explained in terms of the molecular orbital distribution of each system. The intrinsic Lewis acid strength of the isolated active site, the degree of back-donation from the catalyst to the empty orbitals of the organic reactant and the net atomic charges on selected atoms are proposed as predictors of reactivity.
Organocatalysts Fold to Generate an Active Site Pocket for the Mannich Reaction
2017
Catalysts containing urea, thiourea and tertiary amine groups fold into a three-dimensional organized structure in solution both in the absence as well as in the presence of substrates or substrate analogues, as indicated by solution NMR and computational studies. These foldamer catalysts promote Mannich reactions with both aliphatic and aromatic imines and malonate esters. Hammett plot and secondary kinetic isotope effects provide evidence for the C-C bond forming event as the turnoverlimiting step of the Mannich reaction. Computational studies suggest two viable pathways for the C-C bond formation step, differing in the activation modes of the malonate and imine substrates. The results sh…
Conformational Dynamics of the Dengue Virus Protease Revealed by Fluorescence Correlation and Single-Molecule FRET Studies.
2021
The dengue virus protease (DENV-PR) represents an attractive target for counteracting DENV infections. It is generally assumed that DENV-PR can exist in an open and a closed conformation and that active site directed ligands stabilize the closed state. While crystal structures of both the open and the closed conformation were successfully resolved, information about the prevalence of these conformations in solution remains elusive. Herein, we address the question of whether there is an equilibrium between different conformations in solution which can be influenced by addition of a competitive inhibitor. To this end, DENV-PR was statistically labeled by two dye molecules constituting a FRET …