Aspartyl Oxidation Catalysts That Dial In Functional Group Selectivity, along with Regio- and Stereoselectivity

A remarkable aspect of enzyme evolution is the portability of catalytic mechanisms for fundamentally different chemical reactions. For example, aspartyl proteases, which contain two active site carboxylic acid groups, catalyze the hydrolysis of amide bonds, while glycosyltransferases (and glycosyl hydrolases), which often also contain two active site carboxylates, have evolved to form (or break) glycosidic bonds. However, neither catalyst exhibits cross-reactivity in the intracellular environment. The large, macromolecular architectures of these biocatalysts tailor their active sites to their precise, divergent functions. The analogous portability of a small-molecule catalyst for truly orthogonal chemical reactivity is rare. Herein, we report aspartic acid containing peptides that can be directed to different sectors of a substrate for which the danger of cross-reactivity looms large. A transiently formed aspartyl peracid catalyst can participate either as an electrophilic oxidant to catalyze alkene epoxi...