Concepts of Catalysis in Site-Selective Protein Modifications

The manipulation and modulation of biomolecules has the potential to herald new modes of Biology and Medicine through chemical “editing”. Key to the success of such processes will be the selectivities, reactivities and efficiencies that may be brought to bear in bond-formation and bond-cleavage in a benign manner. In this Perspective, we use select examples, primarily from our own research, to examine the current opportunities, limitations and the particular potential of metal-mediated processes as exemplars of possible alternative catalytic modes and manifolds to those already found in nature.