Homogeneous and heterogeneous metal-oxo clusters as a new generation of artificial metal-peptidases

Proteins are one of the most important molecules on Earth, performing different functions in all living organisms. Investigation of their structure and function is important for many fields such as pharmacology and medicine, among many others. Complex structure and large size of proteins require their fragmentation into the smaller fragments, which is the main approach used for protein analyses in the field of proteomics. The cleavage of peptide bond is a challenging task due to its inertness, and enzymes used for these purposes suffer from several shortcomings which inspired the development of artificial proteases that could overcome some of the key issues associated with proteolytic enzymes. In this proposal we will develop metal-oxo clusters based on Zr and Hf as a new class of nanozymes, (nano-engineered materials) that will act as artificial enzymes for protein fragmentation. These MOCs will be designed in such way to have tunable solubility, making them applicable as both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. The heterogeneous nature of MOC will assure their easy separation from the proteomic mixture, while homogenous MOCs will allow detailed investigation of their interactions with proteins on a molecular level by different spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the surface properties of MOCs will be changed in a systematic way by varying the nature of capping ligands, which will allow to tune their selectivity by targeting specific regions on protein surfaces.