Biological chemistry of the carbon-sulfur bond

分子之间发生的详细化学相互作用对于分子如何识别，结合甚至改变其他分子（包括金属）非常重要。 这些相互作用发生在两个分子彼此相遇时，例如当药物与人类细胞上的生物位点结合时。 此外，这些相互作用被各种无机和生物（酶）催化剂用于在材料中产生化学变化。 我们的研究试图通过在生物化学水平上研究和探索这些相互作用来增加我们在这一领域的基础知识。 我们的项目正在研究蛋白质结构和蛋白质-底物、蛋白质-金属和蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用的重要参数。 此外，我们还关注化学的应用，以了解生化催化剂（酶）如何特异性结合并快速催化化学反应。 这种类型的信息，虽然是基本的，但在生物化学和药学领域具有非常广泛的影响，其中病原生物体中酶的化学机制的知识可用于为新药的开发提供分子阿喀琉斯之踵。 我们的特殊方法还要求我们能够将化学探针引入大分子本身，因此，作为化学家，我们还必须学习分子生物学的语言和技术。 化学能够提供量身定制的分子作为探测生物过程的工具，这对于我们从化学结构方面理解生化系统的目标至关重要。 从本质上讲，该研究计划利用化学和生物化学相结合的方法来探索生物系统中碳硫键的重要性。 这些领域的新发现有望改善我们对分子识别事件、酶的化学机制以及蛋白质对金属选择和激活的基础化学的基础知识。

The detailed chemical interactions that occur between molecules are important in how molecules recognize, bind to and even alter other molecules, including metals. These interactions occur every time two molecules encounter each other such as when a pharmaceutical drug binds to a biological site on a human cell. In addition, these interactions are used by a variety of inorganic and biological (enzyme) catalysts to produce chemical change in materials. Our research attempts to add to our fundamental knowledge in this area by studying and probing these interactions at the biochemical level. Investigations into the parameters important for protein structure and protein-substrate, protein-metal and protein-protein interactions are being undertaken in our project. As well, we are concerned with the application of chemistry to understanding how biochemical catalysts (enzymes) specifically bind and rapidly catalyze chemical reactions. This type of information, although fundamental, has very broad implications in biochemistry and in the pharmaceutical area where the knowledge of a chemical mechanism of an enzyme in a pathogenic organism could be utilized to provide a molecular Achilles heel for the development of new drugs. Our particular approach has also required that we be able to introduce our chemical probes into the macromolecule itself, and so, as chemists, we have had to also learn the language and techniques of molecular biology. The ability of chemistry to provide tailor-made molecules to serve as tools in probing biological processes is critical to our goal of understanding biochemical systems in terms of chemical structure. In essence, this research program utilizes a combined chemical and biochemical approach to probe the importance of the carbon-sulfur bond in biological systems. New discoveries in these areas are expected to ameliorate our fundamental knowledge of molecular recognition events, chemical mechanisms of enzymes and the underlying chemistry of metal selection and activation by proteins.