Abstract

A major challenge in chemistry is the design of catalysts that can carry out important chemical transformations with the extraordinary efficiency of enzymes. In many cases nature does this by making metals and hydrogen bonding groups to work cooperatively. This review provides a description of recent work inspired by nature where the combination of metal ions and hydrogen bonding groups has been used to enhance the properties of synthetic metal complexes in metal-mediated reactions. It covers a range of strategies, hydrogen bond types, effects and chemical transformations.

Keywords: Phosphodiester Bonds, phosphate ester cleavage, pyridine-based ligands, dioxygen adducts, Reduction