Congratulations to Francisca, Giulia and Pierre for their article just accepted in Chem. Sci. This collaborative work with the team of Prof. Matthieu Sollogoub reports on the encapsulation of copper(I) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts inside the cavity of modified cyclodextrins that renders these notoriously toxic complexes harmless towards CT26 cells at high concentrations. Nevertheless, the catalytic activity of cyclodextrin(CD)-encapsulated NHC-copper complexes is preserved, allowing the deprotection of pinacol boronate ester groups outside and inside living cells to release phenol-based fluorophores. In cells, the production of fluorophore in the presence of CD-NHC-copper catalysts outperforms that induced by the cellular machinery alone and endogeneous ROS.
