Researchers: Agrawal, Fullagar, Jacobsen, Major, Rouffet.
The design, synthesis, and evaluation of inhibitors of metalloproteins is the focus of this project. A number of metalloproteins are associated with diseases ranging from heart disease to cancer to anthrax infections. Using fundamental principles of inorganic chemistry we have developed inhibitors that better target the metal active sites of these proteins. The majority of our work has focused on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs, see figure on left); however, we are branching out to other targets such as the anthrax lethal factor (LF). Our work in this area has also lead us to the exploration of the coordination chemistry of novel ligands, including thiopyrones and hydroxypyridinethiones (see figure on right).
Metal-Organic Frameworks
Researchers: Garibay, Nguyen, Tanabe, Volkringer, Wang.
The design, synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of new metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is the goal of this project. MOFs are an up-and-coming class of materials that combine organic ligands and metal ions to generate porous materials with defined topologies. In our laboratory, we have replaced the organic ligand component with a 'metalloligand' (e.g. coordination complex) that can impart new spectroscopic properties to the MOF. Our studies have largely focused on dipyrromethene (dipyrrin) complexes as building blocks (see figure on left), and as such we have a general interest in developing the coordination chemistry of these interesting pyrrolic ligands. Our recent efforts have focused on the ability of small organic reagents to perform postsynthetic modification (PSM) on preformed MOFs (see figure on right). PSM has proved to be a powerful approach to altering the physical properties of MOFs and generate MOF materials with new properties such as catalysis.
Other Projects
Researchers: Various.
In the course of our research we often run across a variety of interesting findings that we choose to investigate. One previous effort was understanding the mechanism of the metalloregulatory protein MntR (and homologues) is the aim of this project. MntR (see figure) is a metalloregulatory protein (metal-activated, DNA-binding protein) from B. subtillis that helps to regulate manganese(II) homeostasis. We focused on trying to understand how MntR is selective for this metal ion in its DNA-binding response. Some projects in the lab that we have investigated from time to time have involved the study of lead(II) chelators, thioflavone metal complexes, a wide range of coordination chemistry on novel ligands, and various other topics in bioinorganic and supramolecular chemistry.
