The mechanism of proton exchange in a metal-ligand enzyme active site mimic (compound 1) is described through amide hydrogendeuterium exchange kinetics. The type and ratio of cationic guest to host in solution affect the rate of isotope exchange, suggesting that the rate of exchange is driven by a host whose cavity is occupied by water. Rate constants for acid-, base-, and watermediated proton exchange vary by orders of magnitude depending on the guest, and differ by up to 200 million-fold relative to an alanine polypeptide. These results suggest that the unusual microenvironment of the cavity of 1 can dramatically alter the reactivity of associated water by magnitudes comparable to that of enzymes.W ater-mediated proton transfer in molecular cavities plays an essential role in the function of nature's remarkable metabolic machinery (1, 2). Of the broad diversity of enzymecatalyzed reactions, those involving transfer of hydrogen are ubiquitous and of high fundamental importance (3). For instance, ATP synthase employs an internal chain of water molecules to mediate proton transfer across an electrochemical gradient (4, 5). This process drives ATP synthesis, which allows organisms to broadly meet their basic energy needs. Recent studies of tunneling in enzymatic hydron transfer reactions have other far-reaching and broad implications, namely the importance of the dynamic enzyme motions in driving catalysis (6, 7).Of the methods used to study hydron transfer, kinetic studies of the mechanisms of amide hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) have helped to elucidate the dynamic interactions between water and protein surfaces that are central to the unique capabilities of enzymes (8-13). Noncovalent interactions, such as electrostatic effects and hydrogen bonding, have also been shown to exert a significant influence on amide HDX rates. These properties are manifest in amide HDX rate constants that can vary by a factor of a billion for residues on the same protein (8). How these variations arise, and how such a property could be harnessed to drive enzyme-like reactivity, remain challenging questions.In a growing effort to emulate the efficacy of biological receptors and enzymes, studies of the preparative, guest-binding, and catalytic properties of synthetic assemblies have been pursued (14-21). Whereas guest encapsulation has been reported in a variety of media, association processes of organic guests are generally more thermodynamically favorable in water (22, 23). Central to these studies is the notion that the displacement of a high-energy water cluster from a receptor drives guest association, and in some cases, subsequent catalysis. However, despite the abundance of structural data documenting diverse water clusters encapsulated in various host cavities, mechanistic descriptions of the dynamic processes between water and host are rare (24-32).As part of the broader field of synthetic hosts previously mentioned, our group has developed a class of biologically inspired, anionic K 12 Ga 4 L 6 assemblies that exhibit cat...