Close Structural Analogues of the Cytochrome c Oxidase Fea3/CuB Center Show Clean 4e- Electroreduction of O2 to H2O at Physiological pH

New advances in ligand design for synthetic modeling of metalloprotein active sites

Judicious control of ligand steric bulk and auxiliary structural elements enables the construction of novel synthetic complexes that model the properties of metalloprotein active sites, thus providing insight into their structure and function. Major recent developments include the synthesis of a number of unusual and biologically relevant complexes of copper and iron using elaborate N-donor and O-donor ligands.

Efficient synthesis of a porphyrin-N-tripod conjugate with covalently linked proximal ligand: toward new-generation active-site models of cytochrome c oxidase

[formula: see text] A new-generation cytochrome c oxidase active-site model compound (4) featuring both a trisimidazolyl moiety and a proximal base has been designed and efficiently synthesized. During this study, a facile method based on the chemistry of a 4-magnesioimidazole derivative to synthesize 4-imidazolyl-containing tripodal ligands (7) has been developed.