Designing artificial systems with catalytic efficiencies to rival those of natural enzymes is one of the great challenges facing science today. Our current level of understanding fails the basic, practical test - designing and making artificial systems with catalytic efficiencies to rival those of natural enzymes. Chemists and bio-scientists are well aware of this problem, and "artificial enzymes" have been a "hot topic" for many years. However, until now, there has been no book devoted specifically to this subject. This is the first book to provide a critical introduction to, and overview of, this exciting area. It is aimed at students and more senior researchers with specialist or general interests in the field. The book starts with a systematic overview of the most important properties of natural enzymes, with special emphasis on mechanisms and efficiency of catalysis. This is followed by a summary of the mechanisms involved in the major classes of reaction they catalyze, and spells out the logical progression from simple mechanistic models for particular reactions to the first, rudimentary artificial enzymes catalyzing them. Catalytic efficiency is the key criterion for inclusion. An analysis of the strengths and limitations of the classical design-based approach to catalysis by enzyme mimics leads on to a discussion of recent advances which use selection methods coupled with iterative techniques for creating and improving catalysts by natural methods. The comparison of natural and artificial catalysts requires a quantitative understanding based on the interpretation of kinetic measurements. Key skills in data interpretation are introduced in a guided approach that connects the formal treatment of kinetic measurements with their chemical and biological interpretation.

About the Author

Anthony J. Kirby is Professor (Emeritus) of Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He has over 40 years teaching and research experience in the area and has authored over 300 papers and 3 books. Florian Hollfelder has been lecturing in Biochemistry since 2001. He has a total of 15 years teaching and research experience at Cambridge, Stanford & Harvard and has authored more than 30 papers.

Reviews

"The organizational is logical, progressing from an introduction of the principles of catalysis through model systems to more sophisticated efforts that include biochemical methods to improve the catalytic function of proteins.""The coverage of topics is broad rather than deep, consistent with the authors' goal of introducing enzyme models to a wide readership.""Overall this is a valuable mongraph, particularly for those who are reasonably conversant with the underlying principles of catalysis. The text is very well written and the coverage of the topic is sufficient to give a broad overview of the field."

* JACS, 2010, 132, 3637-3638 *

"Enzymes and how they work is a fascinating topic not only for chemists and biochemists, but for scientists in general, and the current importance of "green" and sustainable chemistry has not made the topic any less interesting.""...an excellent text for those who wish to enter or work in the field of enzyme mimicry.""Anthony Kirby is a first-rate expert in the area and, together with his younger colleagues, leads one through it with care and thoroughness."

* ChemBioChem, 2010, 11, 581 - 583 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780854041756
Author Anthony J Kirby
Format Hardback
Page Count 273
Imprint Royal Society of Chemistry
Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry
Weight(grams) 571g