The Lock-and-Key Principle

Published 100 years after Emil Fischer first proposed the lock-and-key principle, this volume provides a complete review of the subject to date and offers suggestions for futher research. The major impact of the lock-and-key principle on the chemical, biomedical and materials sciences is discussed by leaders in the field, with chapters dedicated to molecular recognition, nucleic acid and protein chemistry, crystallography and the development of Emil Fischer's initial ideas. The Lock-and-Key Principle is the most up-to-date review of progress in supramolecular chemistry and the lock-and-key principle and will become the essential guide to the past, present and future of this remarkable principle.

Contributors vii Preface ix 1 Emil Fischer’s Lock-and-Key Hypothesis after 100 Years—Towards a Supracellular Chemistry 1 Friedrich Cramer 2 Molecular Recognition in Biology: Models for Analysis of Protein-Ligand Interactions 25 Doron Lancet, Amnon Horovitz and Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir 3 New Biocatalysts via Chemical Modification 73 Ian M. Bell and Donald Hilvert 4 Oligonucleotides: Superspecific Ligands for Targeting Nucleic Acids and Proteins and Development of Molecular Devices 89 V. V. Vlassov 5 Macrocycles and Antibodies as Catalysts 149 D. B. Smithrud and S. J. Benkovic 6 Lock-and-Key Processes at Crystalline Interfaces: Relevance to the Spontaneous Generation of Chirality 173 Isabelle Weissbuch, Ronit Popovitz-Biro, Leslie Leiscrowitz and Meir Lahav 7 A Model of the Origin of Life and Perspectives in Supramolecular Engineering 247 H. Kuhn and J. Waser 8 Perspectives in Supramolecular Chemistry—From the Lock-and-Key Image to the Information Paradigm 307 Jean-Marie Lehn Index 319