Multidimensional fitness landscapes provide insights into the molecular basis of laboratory and natural evolution. To date, such efforts usually focus on limited protein families and a single enzyme trait, with little concern about the relationship between protein epistasis and conformational dynamics. Here, we report a multiparametric fitness landscape for a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase that was engineered for the regio- and stereoselective hydroxylation of a steroid. We develop a computational program to automatically quantify non-additive effects among all possible mutational pathways, finding pervasive cooperative signs and magnitude epistasis on multiple catalytic traits. By using quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that these effects are modulated by long-range interactions in loops, helices and β-strands that gate the substrate access channel allowing for optimal catalysis. Our work highlights the importance of conformational dynamics on epistasis in an enzyme involved in secondary metabolism and offers insights for engineering P450s.

Steroidal C7β alcohols and their respective esters have shown significant promise as neuroprotective and anti‐inflammatory agents to treat chronic neuronal damage like stroke, brain trauma, and cerebral ischemia. Since C7 is spatially far away from any functional groups that could direct C−H activation, these transformations are not readily accessible using modern synthetic organic techniques. Reported here are P450‐BM3 mutants that catalyze the oxidative hydroxylation of six different steroids with pronounced C7 regioselectivities and β stereoselectivities, as well as high activities. These challenging transformations were achieved by a focused mutagenesis strategy and application of a novel technology for protein library construction based on DNA assembly and USER (Uracil‐Specific Excision Reagent) cloning. Upscaling reactions enabled the purification of the respective steroidal alcohols in moderate to excellent yields. The high‐resolution X‐ray structure and molecular dynamics simulations of the best mutant unveil the origin of regio‐ and stereoselectivity.

Herein, we synthesized and characterized through NMR and X-ray techniques a new set of [(NHC)-Au-X] complexes (NHC = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-imidazol-2-ylidene), differing in the counterion X (X = OMs , NO3 , ClO4 , 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,7-tridecafluoroheptanoate (PFHp )). All of these complexes, together with those already known having NTf2 and phthalimide (ptm ) as counterions, were tested as catalysts in the methoxylation of 3-hexyne. The results were analyzed together with those obtained previously. The values of activation parameters (Delta H-? and Delta S-?) for different anions are also reported. The overall catalytic and kinetic evidence, together with an extensive computational work, confirm the general mechanistic picture given recently in which the anion plays an active role in all steps of the reaction mechanism: pre-equilibrium, nucleophilic attack, and protodeauration. Medium-coordinating anions (OMs , OTs ) containing a highly symmetric anchoring group give the best catalytic performances. This is due to the following reasons: (a) the pre-equilibrium is shifted toward the outer sphere ion pair, (b) their characteristic basicity promotes the nucleophilic attack, and (c) the possible paths leading to the deactivation of the catalyst are inhibited. These highly symmetric tridentate anions destabilize the unreactive tricoordinated gold species, which instead may be formed by anions with a planar anchoring group, such as PFHp and TFA . A general trend between coordinating ability and catalytic performances in the alkoxylation of alkynes may be established only when the geometric features of the anion are taken into account. The role of the anion has been also investigated in connection with the nature of the nucleophile. In particular, when the alcohol is a poor nucleophile, a large difference in reactivity is observed, while the use of suitably functionalized alcohols, which may contribute to polarizing the -OH bond through intramolecular interactions, flattens the anion effect

The use of copper for C-H bond functionalization, compared to other metals, is relatively unexplored. Herein, we report a synthetic protocol for the regioselective hydroxylation of sp 2 and sp 3 C-H bonds using a directing group, stoichiometric amounts of Cu and H 2 O 2. A wide array of aromatic ketones and aldehydes are oxidized in the carbonyl γ-position with remarkable yields. We also expanded this methodology to hydroxylate the β-position of alkylic ketones. Spectroscopic characterization, kinetics, and density functional theory calculations point toward the involvement of a mononuclear LCu II (OOH) species, which oxidizes the aromatic sp 2 C-H bonds via a concerted heterolytic O-O bond cleavage with concomitant electrophilic attack on the arene system.

In this work DFT calculations have been performed to investigate the anion/ligand interplay in the reaction mechanism of alkoxylation of alkynes promoted by gold(I) catalysts of general formula [L-Au-X] (L = NHC, P(tBu)3and X = OTs-, OTf-, BF4-, TFA-) on the basis of available experimental data. The observed catalytic efficiency trend in this series of compounds strictly depends on the specific anion/ligand combination used, thus suggesting that it cannot be estimated by evaluating the properties of L and X separately. Similarly to [NHC-Au-X], for the [P(tBu)3-Au-X] catalyst series, we demonstrate that the anion effect in the reaction mechanism can be predicted on the basis of its coordinating/proton acceptor properties. A comparison between the P(tBu)3/OTs-and NHC/OTs-settings shows that the anion/ligand interplay has a crucial role in the nucleophilic attack step of the reaction mechanism. A charge-displacement (CD) analysis reveals that the activation of the unsaturated hydrocarbon multiple bond (alkyne) by the [L-Au]+fragment depends both on the ligand-withdrawing ability at the outer region of the CC bond and on the counterion affinity for the cationic fragment, both affecting in the opposite way the electrophilic character of the alkyne at the transition state