Precisely Replicating Di‐Iron Active Sites of Monooxygenases Within COFs for Dioxygen Activation Independent of External Energy Under Ambient Conditions

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Authors: Qiang Song, Liang zhong Zhao, Mingbo Liu, Cheng He, Lin Sun, Ying Liu, Chunying Duan
Cited by: 1
References: 74

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite significant progress, designing artificial enzymes that can precisely replicate the active sites and functions of natural enzymes remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report a covalent organic framework (COF)‐based artificial monooxygenase that mimic the [Fe III (µ 2 ‐OH)] 2 active center of natural di‐iron monooxygenase. The adjacent bipyridyl (bpy) linkers in COFs can precisely regulate to construct the [Fe III (µ 2 ‐OH)] 2 active sites via hydrogen bonding interactions. The COF‐based artificial monooxygenase effectively catalyzed C(sp 3 )─H bond oxidative transformations with > 99% selectivity, using O 2 as the only oxidant, which exhibited at least three times higher catalytic activity than the highest values reported for related systems without external energy under ambient conditions. Control experiments using a COF analogue with a different di‐iron distance compared to that in natural monooxygenase verified the critical role of precisely formed [Fe III (µ 2 ‐OH)] 2 active sites in achieving superior catalytic performance, which indicates the successful replication of the active sites and functions of natural monooxygenases in COFs. To our knowledge, this represents the first example of precisely replicating [Fe III (µ 2 ‐OH)] 2 active sites into COFs to echo natural di‐iron monooxygenase. This strategy not only expands the diversity for designing artificial enzyme catalysts but also opens new avenues for sustainable oxidation catalysis without external energy under ambient conditions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Metal-Catalyzed Oxygenation Mechanisms Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis Enzyme-mediated dye degradation

Publication details

Journal / source
Small
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
22
Issue
30
Pages
e73309–e73309
Publication date
9 April 2026
Language
EN