The selective biological oxidations involved in the biosynthesis of endobiotics (endogenous molecules such as steroid hormones in humans, alkaloids in plants or terpenes in microorganisms, etc.), as well as in the metabolism and elimination of xenobiotics (drugs, pesticides, or any chemical substance in our environment), are most often catalyzed by iron enzymes such as cytochromes P450. One of the major contributions of the studies carried out on these metallo-enzymes and their biomimetic models between 1980 and 2000 was to show the key importance of iron-oxo type species with a high degree of iron oxidation in most of these oxidations. Based on this result, several generations of biomimetic or bio-inspired oxidation catalysts have been developed. The applications of these oxygen atom transfer catalyst systems or nitrenes in organic synthesis have been the subject of very recent reviews (2009-2011). On an industrial level, some of these systems are used by pharmaceutical companies and are proposed by SMEs for the prediction of drug metabolism and the preparation of oxidation metabolites.
The adaptation of living beings to their chemical environment is based on their ability to efficiently oxidize and eliminate the myriad of chemical substances to which they are exposed. This is achieved by a small number of metallo-enzymes (around twenty in humans) which, despite their very low substrate specificity, are efficient and selective. It's only since 2003 that we've begun to understand how these enzymes adapt to a wide variety of chemical structures. Our recent understanding of the mechanisms of their adaptability to a wide range of substrates will pave the way, in the years to come, for the development of new generations of adaptable and much more efficient bio-inspired catalysts for selective oxidation in organic chemistry, the study of drug and xenobiotic metabolism, and pollution control.
