title: Halogen bonding (X-bonding): a biological perspective.
abstract: The concept of the halogen bond (or X-bond) has become recognized as contributing significantly to the specificity in recognition of a large class of halogenated compounds. The interaction is most easily understood as primarily an electrostatically driven molecular interaction, where an electropositive crown, or σ-hole, serves as a Lewis acid to attract a variety of electron-rich Lewis bases, in analogous fashion to a classic hydrogen bonding (H-bond) interaction. We present here a broad overview of X-bonds from the perspective of a biologist who may not be familiar with this recently rediscovered class of interactions and, consequently, may be interested in how they can be applied as a highly directional and specific component of the molecular toolbox. This overview includes a discussion for where X-bonds are found in biomolecular structures, and how their structure-energy relationships are studied experimentally and modeled computationally. In total, our understanding of these basic concepts will allow X-bonds to be incorporated into strategies for the rational design of new halogenated inhibitors against biomolecular targets or toward molecular engineering of new biological-based materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1870, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Scholfield
authors.forename: Crystal M Vander
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Zanden
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: P Shing
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000737:chemistry*; D006219:Halogens / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors; D006219:Halogens