Electron transfer and proton-coupled electron transfer reactivity and self-exchange of synthetic [2Fe-2S] complexes: models for Rieske and mitoNEET clusters

This report describes the thermochemistry, proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions and self-exchange rate constants for a set of bis-benzimidazolate-ligated [2Fe–2S] clusters. These clusters serve as a model for the chemistry of biological Rieske and mitoNEET clusters. PCET from [Fe₂S₂(^Prbbim)(^PrbbimH)]^2– (4) and [Fe₂S₂(^Prbbim)(^PrbbimH₂)]^1– (5) to TEMPO occurs via concerted proton–electron transfer (CPET) mechanisms (^PrbbimH₂ = 4,4-bis-(benzimidazol-2-yl)heptane). Intermolecular electron transfer (ET) self-exchange between [Fe₂S₂(^Prbbim)₂]^2– (1) and [Fe₂S₂(^Prbbim)₂]^3– (2) occurs with a rate constant of (1.20 ± 0.06) × 10⁵ M^–1 s^–1 at 26 °C. A similar self-exchange rate constant is found for the related [2Fe–2S] cluster [Fe₂S₂(SArO)₂]^2–/3–, SArO^2– = thiosalicylate. These are roughly an order of magnitude slower than that reported for larger [4Fe–4S] clusters and 1 order of magnitude faster than that reported for N-ligated high-spin iron complexes. These results suggest that the rate of intermolecular ET to/from [Fe–S] clusters is modulated by cluster size. The measured PCET self-exchange rate constant for 1 and 4 at −30 °C is (3.8 ± 0.7) × 10⁴ M^–1 s^–1. Analysis of rate constants using the Marcus cross-relation suggests that this process likely occurs via a concerted proton–electron transfer (CPET) mechanism. The implications of these findings to biological systems are also discussed, including the conclusion that histidine-ligated [2Fe–2S] clusters should not have a strong bias to undergo concerted e^–/H⁺ transfers.

[Fe₂S₂(^Prbbim)(^PrbbimH_x)]^y- clusters have been generated in multiple redox and protonation states. Their PCET and ET thermochemistry and reactivity are described. The PCET self-exchange reaction occurs by concerted e⁻/H⁺ exchange, and the ET self-exchange barriers for different clusters are shown to scale with [Fe−S] cluster size. The implications of these results for the reactivity of biochemical imidazole-ligated clusters is discussed.

Fast proton-coupled electron transfer observed for a high-fidelity structural and functional [2Fe-2S] Rieske model

Rieske cofactors have a [2Fe–2S] cluster with unique {His₂Cys₂} ligation and distinct Fe subsites. The histidine ligands are functionally relevant, since they allow for coupling of electron and proton transfer (PCET) during quinol oxidation in respiratory and photosynthetic ET chains. Here we present the highest fidelity synthetic analogue for the Rieske [2Fe–2S] cluster reported so far. This synthetic analogue 5^x– emulates the heteroleptic {His₂Cys₂} ligation of the [2Fe–2S] core, and it also serves as a functional model that undergoes fast concerted proton and electron transfer (CPET) upon reaction of the mixed-valent (ferrous/ferric) protonated 5H^2– with TEMPO. The thermodynamics of the PCET square scheme for 5^x– have been determined, and three species (diferric 5^2–, protonated diferric 5H^–, and mixed-valent 5^3–) have been characterized by X-ray diffraction. pK_a values for 5H^– and 5H^2– differ by about 4 units, and the reduction potential of 5H^– is shifted anodically by about +230 mV compared to that of 5^2–. While the N–H bond dissociation free energy of 5H^2– (60.2 ± 0.5 kcal mol^–1) and the free energy, ΔG°_CPET, of its reaction with TEMPO (−6.3 kcal mol^–1) are similar to values recently reported for a homoleptic {N₂/N₂}-coordinated [2Fe–2S] cluster, CPET is significantly faster for 5H^2– with biomimetic {N₂/S₂} ligation (k = (9.5 ± 1.2) × 10⁴ M^–1 s^–1, ΔH^‡ = 8.7 ± 1.0 kJ mol^–1, ΔS^‡ = −120 ± 40 J mol^–1 K^–1, and ΔG^‡ = 43.8 ± 0.3 kJ mol^–1 at 293 K). These parameters, and the comparison with homoleptic analogues, provide important information and new perspectives for the mechanistic understanding of the biological Rieske cofactor.

Radical Reactivity of the Fe(III)/(II) Tetramesitylporphyrin Couple: Hydrogen Atom Transfer, Oxyl Radical Dissociation, and Catalytic Disproportionation of a Hydroxylamine

The chemistry of low-valent iron porphyrin complexes with oxyl radical reagents has been explored. (Meso-tetramesityl porphyrinato) iron(III) hydroxide, (TMP)FeIII(OH) reacts with the hydroxylamine TEMPO-H (1-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperdine) to yield the ferrous porphyrin, (TMP)FeII, together with H2O and TEMPO. This reaction has a second order rate constant k1 = 76 ± 5 M-1 1 s-1 and likely occurs by concerted e-/H+ transfer. Hydrazines PhNHNHPh and PhNHNH2 similarly yield (TMP)FeII. A subsequent reaction between TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperdinyl radical) and (TMP)FeII is observed to reversibly form the TEMPO-ligated ferric porphyrin, (TMP)FeIII(TEMPO). A combination of 1H NMR and optical spectroscopies were used to determine the thermodynamic parameters for TEMPO binding: K4 (25°C) = 535 ± 20 M-1, ΔH°4 = -7.0 ± 1.5 kcal mol-1, ΔS°4= -11 ± 5 cal mol-1 K-1, ΔG‡4(235K) = 21.3 ± 0.5 kcal mol-1, ΔG‡-4(235K) = 16.9 ± 0.5 kcal mol-1. The Fe-O bond is remarkably weak. The stable phenoxyl radical 2,4,6- t Bu3C6H2O• (ArO•) forms a stronger bond to (TMP)FeII to irreversibly make a similar FeIII(OR) complex. Both (TMP)FeII and (TMP)FeIII(OH) are catalysts for the disproportionation of excess TEMPO-H to TEMPO and TEMP-H (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperdine). The lack of reactivity between (TMP)FeII and the alkylated TEMPO-H analogue, TEMPO-CH3, suggests that the disproportionation involves a hydrogen atom transfer step. These results highlight the importance and versatility of the heme FeIII/II couple that is often overshadowed by its higher-valent counterparts.

Do Spin State and Spin Density Affect Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reactivity?

The prevalence of hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions in chemical and biological systems has prompted much interest in establishing and understanding the underlying factors that enable this reactivity. Arguments have been advanced that the electronic spin state of the abstractor and/or the spin-density at the abstracting atom are critical for HAT reactivity. This is consistent with the intuition derived from introductory organic chemistry courses. Herein we present an alternative view on the role of spin state and spin-density in HAT reactions. After a brief introduction, the second section introduces a new and simple fundamental kinetic analysis, which shows that unpaired spin cannot be the dominant effect. The third section examines published computational studies of HAT reactions, which indicates that the spin state affects these reactions indirectly, primarily via changes in driving force. The essay concludes with a broader view of HAT reactivity, including indirect effects of spin and other properties on reactivity. It is suggested that some of the controversy in this area may arise from the diversity of HAT reactions and their overlap with proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions.

A C-C bonded phenoxyl radical dimer with a zero bond dissociation free energy

The 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methoxyphenoxyl radical is shown to dimerize in solution and in the solid state. The X-ray crystal structure of the dimer, the first for a para-coupled phenoxyl radical, revealed a bond length of 1.6055(23) Å for the C4-C4a bond. This is significantly longer than typical C-C bonds. Solution equilibrium studies using both optical and IR spectroscopies showed that the Keq for dissociation is 1.3 ± 0.2 M at 20 °C, indicating a C-C bond dissociation free energy of -0.15 ± 0.1 kcal mol(-1). Van't Hoff analysis gave an exceptionally small bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) of 6.1 ± 0.5 kcal mol(-1). To our knowledge, this is the smallest BDE measured for a C-C bond. This very weak bond shows a large deviation from the correlation of C-C bond lengths and strengths, but the computed force constant follows Badger's rule.

Decomposition of a Mixed-Valence [2Fe-2S] Cluster to Linear Tetra-Ferric and Ferrous Clusters

Despite the ease of preparing di-ferric [2Fe-2S] clusters, preparing stable mixed-valence analogues remains a challenge, as these clusters have limited thermal stability. Herein we identify two decomposition products of the mixed-valence thiosalicylate-ligated [2Fe-2S] cluster, [Fe₂S₂(SArCOO)₂]^3- ((SArCOO)^2- = thiosalicylate).

Long Range Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Reactions of Bis(imidazole) Iron Tetraphenylporphyrins Linked to Benzoates

Concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) reactions in iron carboxy-tetraphenylporphyrin complexes have been investigated using both experimental and theoretical methods. Synthetic heme models abstract H⁺ and e^- from the hydroxylamine TEMPOH or an ascorbate derivative, and the kinetics of the TEMPOH reaction indicate concerted transfer of H⁺ and e^-. Phenylene linker domains vary the electron donor/acceptor separation by approximately 4 Å. The rate data and extensive molecular simulations show that the electronic coupling decay constant (β) depends on conformational flexibility and solvation associated with the linker domain. Our best estimate of β is 0.23 ± 0.07 Å^-1, a value that is near the low end of the range (0.2-0.5 Å^-1) established for electron transfer reactions involving related linkers. This is the first analysis of β for a CPET reaction.

Effect of basic site substituents on concerted proton-electron transfer in hydrogen-bonded pyridyl-phenols

Separated concerted proton-electron transfer (sCPET) reactions of two series of phenols with pendent substituted pyridyl moieties are described. The pyridine is either attached directly to the phenol (HOAr-pyX) or connected through a methylene linker (HOArCH(2)pyX) (X = 4-NO(2), 5-CF(3), 4-CH(3), and 4-NMe(2)). Electron-donating and -withdrawing substituents have a substantial effect on the chemical environment of the transferring proton, as indicated by IR and (1)H NMR spectra, X-ray structures, and computational studies. One-electron oxidation of the phenols occurs concomitantly with proton transfer from the phenolic oxygen to the pyridyl nitrogen. The oxidation potentials vary linearly with the pK(a) of the free pyridine (pyX), with slopes slightly below the Nerstian value of 59 mV/pK(a). For the HOArCH(2)pyX series, the rate constants k(sCPET) for oxidation by NAr(3)(•+) or [Fe(diimine)(3)](3+) vary primarily with the thermodynamic driving force (ΔG°(sCPET)), whether ΔG° is changed by varying the potential of the oxidant or the substituent on the pyridine, indicating a constant intrinsic barrier λ. In contrast, the substituents in the HOAr-pyX series affect λ as well as ΔG°(sCPET), and compounds with electron-withdrawing substituents have significantly lower reactivity. The relationship between the structural and spectroscopic properties of the phenols and their CPET reactivity is discussed.

Multiple-site concerted proton-electron transfer reactions of hydrogen-bonded phenols are nonadiabatic and well described by semiclassical Marcus theory

Photo-oxidations of hydrogen-bonded phenols using excited-state polyarenes are described to derive fundamental understanding of multiple-site concerted proton-electron transfer reactions (MS-CPET). Experiments have examined phenol bases having -CPh(2)NH(2), -Py, and -CH(2)Py groups ortho to the phenol hydroxyl group and tert-butyl groups in the 4,6-positions for stability (HOAr-NH(2), HOAr-Py, and HOAr-CH(2)Py, respectively; Py = pyridyl; Ph = phenyl). The photo-oxidations proceed by intramolecular proton transfer from the phenol to the pendent base concerted with electron transfer to the excited polyarene. For comparison, 2,4,6-(t)Bu(3)C(6)H(2)OH, a phenol without a pendent base and tert-butyl groups in the 2,4,6-positions, has also been examined. Many of these bimolecular reactions are fast, with rate constants near the diffusion limit. Combining the photochemical k(CPET) values with those from prior thermal stopped-flow kinetic studies gives data sets for the oxidations of HOAr-NH(2) and HOAr-CH(2)Py that span over 10(7) in k(CPET) and nearly 0.9 eV in driving force (ΔG(o)'). Plots of log(k(CPET)) vs ΔG(o)', including both excited-state anthracenes and ground state aminium radical cations, define a single Marcus parabola in each case. These two data sets are thus well described by semiclassical Marcus theory, providing a strong validation of the use of this theory for MS-CPET. The parabolas give λ(CPET) ≅ 1.15-1.2 eV and H(ab) ≅ 20-30 cm(-1). These experiments represent the most direct measurements of H(ab) for MS-CPET reactions to date. Although rate constants are available only up to the diffusion limit, the parabolas clearly peak well below the adiabatic limit of ca. 6 × 10(12) s(-1). Thus, this is a very clear demonstration that the reactions are nonadiabatic. The nonadiabatic character slows the reactions by a factor of ~45. Results for the oxidation of HOAr-Py, in which the phenol and base are conjugated, and for oxidation of 2,4,6-(t)Bu(3)C(6)H(2)OH, which lacks a base, show that both have substantially lower λ and larger pre-exponential terms. The implications of these results for MS-CPET reactions are discussed.

Titanium and zinc oxide nanoparticles are proton-coupled electron transfer agents

Oxidation/reduction reactions at metal oxide surfaces are important to emerging solar energy conversion processes, photocatalysis, and geochemical transformations. Here we show that the usual description of these reactions as electron transfers is incomplete. Reduced TiO(2) and ZnO nanoparticles in solution can transfer an electron and a proton to phenoxyl and nitroxyl radicals, indicating that e(-) and H(+) are coupled in this interfacial reaction. These proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions are rapid and quantitative. The identification of metal oxide surfaces as PCET reagents has implications for the understanding and development of chemical energy technologies, which will rely on e(-)/H(+) coupling.

Protonation and concerted proton-electron transfer reactivity of a bis-benzimidazolate ligated [2Fe-2S] model for Rieske clusters

A model system for biological Rieske clusters that incorporates bis-benzimidazolate ligands ((Pr)bbim)(2-) has been developed ((Pr)bbimH(2) = 4,4-bis(benzimidazol-2-yl)heptane). The diferric and mixed-valence clusters have been prepared and characterized in both their protonated and deprotonated states. The thermochemistry of interconversions of these species has been measured, and the effect of protonation on the reduction potential is in good agreement to that observed in the biological systems. The mixed-valence and protonated congener [Fe(2)S(2)((Pr)bbim)((Pr)bbimH)](Et(4)N)(2) (4) reacts rapidly with TEMPO or p-benzoquinones to generate diferric and deprotonated [Fe(2)S(2)((Pr)bbim)(2)](Et(4)N)(2) (1) and 1 equiv of TEMPOH or 0.5 equiv of p-benzohydroquinones, respectively. The reaction with TEMPO is the first well-defined example of concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) at a synthetic ferric/ferrous [Fe-S] cluster.

Probing quantum and dynamic effects in concerted proton-electron transfer reactions of phenol-base compounds

The oxidation of three phenols, which contain an intramolecular hydrogen bond to a pendent pyridine or amine group, has been shown, in a previous experimental study, to undergo concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET). In this reaction, the electron is transferred to an outer-sphere oxidant, and the proton is transferred from the oxygen to nitrogen atom. In the present study, this reaction is studied computationally using a version of Hammes-Schiffer's multistate continuum theory where CPET is formulated as a transmission frequency between neutral and cation vibrational-electronic states. The neutral and cation proton vibrational wave functions are computed from one-dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the transferring proton in a fixed heavy atom framework. The overlap integrals for these neutral/cation wave functions, considering several initial (i.e., neutral) and final (i.e., cation) vibrational states, are used to evaluate the relative rates of oxidation. The analysis is extended to heavy atom configurations with various proton donor-acceptor (i.e., O-N) distances to assess the importance of heavy atom "gating". Such changes in d(ON) dramatically affect the nature of the proton PESs and wave functions. Surprisingly, the most reactive configurations have similar donor-acceptor distances despite the large (~0.2 Å) differences in the optimized structures. These theoretical results qualitatively reproduce the experimental faster reactivity of the reaction of the pyridyl derivative 1 versus the CH(2)-pyridyl 2, but the computed factor of 5 is smaller than the experimental 10(2). The amine derivative is calculated to react similarly to 1, which does not agree with the experiments, likely due to some of the simplifying assumptions made in applying the theory. The computed kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and their temperature dependence are in agreement with experimental results.

Kinetic effects of increased proton transfer distance on proton-coupled oxidations of phenol-amines

To test the effect of varying the proton donor-acceptor distance in proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions, the oxidation of a bicyclic amino-indanol (2) is compared with that of a closely related phenol with an ortho CPh(2)NH(2) substituent (1). Spectroscopic, structural, thermochemical, and computational studies show that the two amino-phenols are very similar, except that the O···N distance (d(ON)) is >0.1 Å longer in 2 than in 1. The difference in d(ON) is 0.13 ± 0.03 Å from X-ray crystallography and 0.165 Å from DFT calculations. Oxidations of these phenols by outer-sphere oxidants yield distonic radical cations (•)OAr-NH(3)(+) by concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET). Simple tunneling and classical kinetic models both predict that the longer donor-acceptor distance in 2 should lead to slower reactions, by ca. 2 orders of magnitude, as well as larger H/D kinetic isotope effects (KIEs). However, kinetic studies show that the compound with the longer proton-transfer distance, 2, exhibits smaller KIEs and has rate constants that are quite close to those of 1. For example, the oxidation of 2 by the triarylamminium radical cation N(C(6)H(4)OMe)(3)(•+) (3a(+)) occurs at (1.4 ± 0.1) × 10(4) M(-1) s(-1), only a factor of 2 slower than the closely related reaction of 1 with N(C(6)H(4)OMe)(2)(C(6)H(4)Br)(•+) (3b(+)). This difference in rate constants is well accounted for by the slightly different free energies of reaction: ΔG° (2 + 3a(+)) = +0.078 V versus ΔG° (1 + 3b(+)) = +0.04 V. The two phenol-amines do display some subtle kinetic differences: for instance, compound 2 has a shallower dependence of CPET rate constants on driving force (Brønsted α, Δ ln(k)/Δ ln(K(eq))). These results show that the simple tunneling model is not a good predictor of the effect of proton donor-acceptor distance on concerted-electron transfer reactions involving strongly hydrogen-bonded systems. Computational analysis of the observed similarity of the two phenols emphasizes the importance of the highly anharmonic O···H···N potential energy surface and the influence of proton vibrational excited states.