Abstract
Many important intracellular biochemical reactions are modulated by transition metals, typically in the form of metalloproteins. The ability to carry out selective transformations inside a cell would allow researchers to manipulate or interrogate innumerable biological processes. Here, we show that palladium nanoparticles trapped within polystyrene microspheres can enter cells and mediate a variety of Pd0-catalysed reactions, such as allylcarbamate cleavage and Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling. The work provides the basis for the customization of heterogeneous unnatural catalysts as tools to carry out artificial chemistries within cells. Such in cellulo synthesis has potential for a plethora of applications ranging from cellular labelling to synthesis of modulators or inhibitors of cell function.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported financially by the Government of Malaysia (R.M.Y.), the Swiss National Science Foundation (E.M.V.J.) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. R.M.S.M. thanks the Royal Society for a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship. The authors thank D. Kelly for his help with the confocal microscopy studies.
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R.M.Y. synthesized materials, performed cell-based experiments and analysed the data. A.U.B. designed and supervised the research, analysed the data and co-wrote the paper. E.M.V.J. synthesized materials, performed experiments and analysed the data. R.M.S.M. designed and supervised the experiments and analysed the data. M.B. came up with the concept, designed the research, analysed the data and co-wrote the paper.
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Yusop, R., Unciti-Broceta, A., Johansson, E. et al. Palladium-mediated intracellular chemistry. Nature Chem 3, 239–243 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.981
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.981
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