Essential Metal-Based Reactions Transforming Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Sulfur and More

The powerful chemistry of metalloenzymes and metal-based catalysis are achieved through the action of complex metallocofactors, essential for all forms of life and can include species composed of iron, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, nickel, cobalt and manganese. The diversity and nature of the many different reactions catalyzed by metallocofactors is staggering, and includes the essential transformations of what are arguably the most important elements in the world around us (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen), and critical steps of electron transfer and metabolism needed for life. Through the detailed understanding of the chemistry of metallocofactors, synthetic and materials chemists can hope to develop novel catalysts that are capable of similar transformations. The current interest in manipulating these cofactors at the atomic level is profound, as in the microbial world they control the chemistry of elemental cycling, an the small molecular transformations of molecules such as N₂, H₂O, H₂, CO, CO₂, N₂O, NH₃, NO₂^- and CH₄.

The 2018 Metallocofactors GRC will bring together experts on that span the chemistry and biology of iron-sulfur cluster, non-heme iron, copper and molybdenum-based reactivity, in order to examine the pressing problems of the field of Metallocofactor chemistry. The breadth of the conference will be matched with depth into the latest developments in the fields of carbon- and nitrogen-based redox transformations, iron-sulfur cluster-based radical chemistry, and the metabolic processes and synthetic efforts at Metallocofactor assembly. Chemists, microbiologists, structural biologists and catalysis scientists will join together in our upcoming meeting to provide a creative and thoughtful environment for pushing at the frontier of Metallocofactor research.