Self-Assembly of Multimolecular Components for Engineering Enzyme-Mimetic Materials

Abstract

Natural enzymes, with their intricate three-dimensional structures, facilitate a wide array of biochemical reactions with exceptional precision and speed. The catalytic capabilities of enzymes arise from the distinctive structures of their active sites, where functional groups collaborate or aid cofactors (organic or ionic) in binding substrates with specificity and catalyzing transformations. Inspired by the structure–function relationship of enzymes, supramolecular self-assembly, a bottom-up approach in nanofabrication, has been employed to create enzyme-mimetic catalysts. However, accurately replicating enzymatic active sites poses a formidable challenge, primarily because of the intricacies in mimicking the complexity of natural protein folding.