Incorporation of organometallic Ru complexes into apo-ferritin cage

Dalton Trans. 2011 Mar 14;40(10):2190-5. doi: 10.1039/c0dt00955e. Epub 2010 Nov 26.

Abstract

Spherical protein cages such as an iron storage protein, ferritin, have great potential as nanometer-scale capsules to assemble and store metal ions and complexes. We report herein the synthesis of a composite of an apo-ferritin cage and Ru(p-cymene) complexes. Ru complexes were efficiently incorporated into the ferritin cavity without degradation of its cage structure. X-Ray crystallography revealed that the Ru complexes were immobilized on the interior surface of the cage mainly by the coordination of histidine residues.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Substitution
  • Apoferritins / chemistry*
  • Apoferritins / genetics
  • Apoferritins / metabolism
  • Binding Sites
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Histidine / chemistry
  • Mutation
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Ruthenium / chemistry*

Substances

  • Coordination Complexes
  • Histidine
  • Ruthenium
  • Apoferritins