Welcome to the Rodriguez-Macia Lab! We explore the frontiers of Bioinorganic Chemistry, working at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and materials science. Our guiding principle is simple: learn from nature’s own catalysts -metalloenzymes- to inspire the design of next-generation (bio)hybrid catalysts for sustainable energy conversion.

Our research centers on two remarkable classes of metalloenzymes: hydrogenases and CO dehydrogenases. These natural systems use earth-abundant metals to perform complex chemical transformations, such as hydrogen conversion and CO₂ reduction to CO, with impressive activities and extraordinary efficiency and selectivity. Understanding how they work can unlock new strategies for the development of sustainable catalysts. As such, we utilise the mechanistic knowledge learnt from natural metalloenzymes to design and develop (bio)hybrid catalysts. Biohybrid catalysts, also called artificial metalloenzymes (ArM), result from the incorporation of a (non-native) synthetic cofactor within a protein scaffold.

We are an interdisciplinary group. Our strength is the combination of techniques to uncover the secrets of these metalloenzymes and to mechanistically investigate our biohybrid catalysts. We employ complementary spectroscopic, electrochemical and structural methods, supported by computational calculations. We also develop new methods and approaches focused on studying the catalytic systems under operando conditions. These tools allow us to access and characterise key intermediate states, shedding light onto catalytic mechanisms and enabling the discovery of novel reactivities.

We love metalloenzymes and are committed to use science as a force to make the world a better place!