De novo designed miniature protein scaffolds, such as the coiled coil, offer exciting opportunities for metal ion coordination.[1] Not surprisingly due to the protein like nature of the scaffold, the large majority of de novo metallocoiled coil examples have focussed their efforts on mimicking the active sites of native metalloenzymes. Our approach is to instead to use these artificial proteins as novel ligands for the coordination of xeno metals, with no known biological role, with the view to developing functional systems for valuable applications beyond the scope of nature. We recently reported the design of the first gadolinium coiled coil, which displayed promise as a potential MRI contrast agent.[2] We have since interrogated the coordination of various lanthanide ions to different coiled coil designs and have for the first time shown that we can selectively bind Ln(III) ions, by discriminating based on size, using different designs. We have recently prepared a single coiled coil capable of binding two different Ln(III) ions selectively to two different sites (see Figure). Ultimately we propose this complex to function as a bimodal imaging agent where one site provides a MRI output and the second emits NIR light. Recent results will be reported. References 1. A. F. A. Peacock, Cur. Opin. Chem. Biol. 17 (2013) 934-939. 2. M. R. Berwick, D. J. Lewis, A. W. Jones, R. A. Parslow, T. R. Dafforn, H. J. Cooper, J. Wilkie, Z. Pikramenou, M. M. Britton, A. F. A. Peacock, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136 (2014) 1166-1169. Generous financial support from The University of Birmingham, the School of Chemistry and EU COST action CM1105 is acknowledged.

Coiled coils as ligands for “non-biological” metal ions: New applications for metalloproteins

251st National Meeting (2016)

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