Porous protein crystals as reaction vessels

Abstract

Porous protein crystals have the potential to provide new porous materials due to their unique chemical environments composed of amino acid residues periodically exposed at the surface of the solvent channels in the crystal lattice. This enables accumulation of external compounds in special arrangements by metal coordination interactions or by chemical modifications. This article presents a review of advances in the recently established field of porous protein crystals.

Keywords: bioinorganic chemistry; biominerals; porous materials; protein assembly; protein structures.