Anion-π Enzymes.

In this report, we introduce artificial enzymes that operate with anion-π interactions, an interaction that is essentially new to nature. The possibility to stabilize anionic intermediates and transition states on an π-acidic surface has been recently demonstrated, using the addition of malonate half thioesters to enolate acceptors as a biologically relevant example. The best chiral anion-π catalysts operate with an addition/decarboxylation ratio of 4:1, but without any stereoselectivity. To catalyze this important but intrinsically disfavored reaction stereoselectively, a series of anion-π catalysts was equipped with biotin and screened against a collection of streptavidin mutants. With the best hit, the S112Y mutant, the reaction occurred with 95% ee and complete suppression of the intrinsically favored side product from decarboxylation. This performance of anion-π enzymes rivals, if not exceeds, that of the best conventional organocatalysts. Inhibition of the S112Y mutant by nitrate but not by bulky an...