Cooperative Weak Dispersive Interactions Actuate Catalysis in a Shape-Selective Abiological Racemase

A simple abiological host–guest system demonstrates racemase activity with catalytic rate enhancements of 10⁴ without employing traditional functional groups. Cooperative weak interactions enhanced through shape-complementarity between the catalyst active site and the reaction transition state drive this activity, as proposed by Pauling for enzymes. In analogy to the Jencks’ concept of catalytic antibodies, it is shown that a hapten resembling the planar transition state of the bowl inversion acts as a potent inhibitor of this catalytic process. In contrast, no substrate/product inhibition is detected, and a relatively weak binding of the substrate is observed (K_a ≈ 10² M^–1 at 293 K). This simple box-and-bowl system demonstrates that shape selectivity arising from cooperative dispersive forces suffices for the emergence of a catalytic system with an enzyme-like thermodynamic profile.