The expanding landscape of metal–amino acid complexes in modern bioinspired catalysis

Metal-amino acid complexes have grown into a diverse class of bioinspired catalysts.These complexes serve as a cornerstone linking enzymatic precision with synthetic chemistry.This review summarizes their development across major reaction classes.The focus is on how amino acids and their derivatives construct primary and secondary coordination spheres that significantly improve catalytic outcomes.Also, these catalytic processes emphasize mechanistic principles, such as Lewis acid activation, hydrogen bonding, and cation-π interactions.Collectively, these studies demonstrate that metal-amino acid complexes are powerful tools for sustainable and enzyme-inspired catalysis.