Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

EuroBIC Medal 2014

2014; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 19; Issue: S2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s00775-014-1151-4

1432-1327

Kay Severin,

Regional Development and Policy

Among his many research interests is the biomimetic and bio-inspired chemistry of redox-active metalloenzymes.During the last several years, he has developed an exciting and highly successful research program in the bio-mimetic chemistry of [Fe]-hydrogenase that forms the basis for this year's EuroBIC Medal.Hydrogenases are enzymes that catalyze the production and utilization of hydrogen in the biosphere.Given the essential role of hydrogen in energy technology (fuel cell) and chemical synthesis (hydrogenation), the study of hydrogenases is of significant contemporary interest.One exciting recent story in bioinorganic chemistry is the discovery and structural elucidation of [Fe]-hydrogenase.R. Thauer, S. Shima, and co-workers show that [Fe]-hydrogenase is a mononuclear Fe-containing enzyme with a unique pyridinylacyl ligand.The proposed active site is unprecedented in both biology and synthetic chemistry that it warrants confirmation by model complexes.This task is largely accomplished by Xile Hu's research in the area.