Binding of Catechols to Iron(III)-Octaethylporphyrin: An Experimental and DFT Investigation

Spin-Flip via Subtle Electronic Perturbation in Axially Ligated Diiron(III) Porphyrin Dimer

Spin state switching in the metal center is a crucial phenomenon in many enzymatic reactions in biology. The spin state alteration, a critical step in cytochrome P450 catalysis, is driven most likely through a weak perturbation upon substrate binding in the enzyme, which is still not well clarified. In the current work, the spin state transition of iron(III) from high to intermediate via an admixed state is observed upon a subtle electronic perturbation to the sulphonate moieties coordinated axially to a diiron(III)porphyrin dimer. While electron-donating substituents stabilize the high-spin state of iron(III), strongly electron-withdrawing groups stabilize an intermediate-spin state, whereas the moderate electron-withdrawing nature of axial ligands resulted in an admixed state. Confirmation of the molecular structures and their spin states have been made utilizing single-crystal X-ray structure analysis, Mössbauer, magnetic, EPR, and 1H NMR spectroscopic investigations. The position of the signals of the porphyrin macrocycle in the paramagnetic 1H NMR is found to be very characteristic of the spin state of the iron center in solution. The Curie plot for the pure high-spin complexes shows the signals' temperature dependency in line with the Curie law. Conversely, the pure intermediate-spin state of iron exhibits an anti-Curie temperature dependence, whereas the admixed-spin state of iron displays significant curvature of the lines in the Curie plot. An extensive DFT analysis displays a linear dependence between the energy difference between dx 2 - y 2 ${{_{x{^{2}}- y{^{2}}}}}$ and dz 2 ${{_{z{^{2}}}}}$ orbital versus Fe-Npor distance for the complexes reported here. Furthermore, a strong linear correlation between the Fe-O distance and the spin density over the oxygen atom, as well as the Fe-Npor distance for the complexes, has been observed. Thus, a slight electronic perturbation at the axial ligand of the diheme resulted in a large change in the electronic structures with a spin-flip. This is at par with the metalloenzymes, which employ minute perturbations around the periphery of the active sites, leading to spin state transitions.

Solution-Processed Functionalized Graphene Film Prepared by Vacuum Filtration for Flexible NO2 Sensors

Large-scale production of graphene nanosheets (GNSs) has led to the availability of solution-processable GNSs on the commercial scale. The controlled vacuum filtration method is a scalable process for the preparation of wafer-scale films of GNSs, which can be used for gas sensing applications. Here, we demonstrate the use of this deposition method to produce functional gas sensors, using a chemiresistor structure from GNS solution-based techniques. The GNS suspension was prepared by liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) and transferred to a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. The effect of non-covalent functionalization with Co-porphyrin and Fe-phthalocyanines on the sensor properties was studied. The pristine and functionalized GNS films were characterized using different techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electrical characterizations. The morphological and spectroscopic analyses both confirm that the molecules (Co-porphyrin and Fe-phthalocyanine) were successfully adsorbed onto the GNSs surface through π-π interactions. The chemiresistive sensor response of functionalized GNSs toward the low concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) (0.5-2 ppm) was studied and compared with those of the film of pristine GNSs. The tests on the sensing performance clearly showed sensitivity to a low concentration of NO₂ (5 ppm). Furthermore, the chemical modification of GNSs significantly improves NO₂ sensing performance compared to the pristine GNSs. The sensor response can be modulated by the type of adsorbed molecules. Indeed, Co-Por exhibited negative responsiveness (the response of Co-Por-GNS sensors and pristine GNS devices was 13.1% and 15.6%, respectively, after exposure to 0.5 ppm of NO₂). Meanwhile, Fe-Phc-GNSs induced the opposite behavior resulting in an increase in the sensor response (the sensitivity was 8.3% and 7.8% of Fe-Phc-GNSs and pristine GNSs, respectively, at 0.5 ppm NO₂ gas).

Equatorial ligand plane perturbations lead to a spin-state change in an iron(iii) porphyrin dimer

A complete reversal of the spin state of iron(iii) is observed upon a small change to the diporphyrin bridge from ethane to ethene by keeping all other factors intact.

Chemiresistive Graphene Sensors for Ammonia Detection

The primary objective of this work is to demonstrate a novel sensor system as a convenient vehicle for scaled-up repeatability and the kinetic analysis of a pixelated testbed. This work presents a sensor system capable of measuring hundreds of functionalized graphene sensors in a rapid and convenient fashion. The sensor system makes use of a novel array architecture requiring only one sensor per pixel and no selector transistor. The sensor system is employed specifically for the evaluation of Co(tpfpp)ClO₄ functionalization of graphene sensors for the detection of ammonia as an extension of previous work. Co(tpfpp)ClO₄ treated graphene sensors were found to provide 4-fold increased ammonia sensitivity over pristine graphene sensors. Sensors were also found to exhibit excellent selectivity over interfering compounds such as water and common organic solvents. The ability to monitor a large sensor array with 160 pixels provides insights into performance variations and reproducibility-critical factors in the development of practical sensor systems. All sensors exhibit the same linearly related responses with variations in response exhibiting Gaussian distributions, a key finding for variation modeling and quality engineering purposes. The mean correlation coefficient between sensor responses was found to be 0.999 indicating highly consistent sensor responses and excellent reproducibility of Co(tpfpp)ClO₄ functionalization. A detailed kinetic model is developed to describe sensor response profiles. The model consists of two adsorption mechanisms-one reversible and one irreversible-and is shown capable of fitting experimental data with a mean percent error of 0.01%.

Multiheme proteins: effect of heme–heme interactions

This Frontier illustrates a brief personal account on the effect of heme–heme interactions in dihemes which thereby discloses some of the evolutionary design principles involved in multiheme proteins for their diverse structures and functions.

Porphyrin molecules boost the sensitivity of epitaxial graphene for NH3 detection

The sensitivity of quasi-free standing epitaxial graphene for NH₃ detection is strongly enhanced by chemical functionalization with cobalt porphyrins resulting in a detection limit well below 100 ppb. Hybridization between NH₃ and cobalt porphyrins induces a charge transfer to graphene and results in a shift of the graphene Fermi-level as detected by Hall measurements and theoretically explained by electronic structure calculations.

Hydroxo-bridged diiron(iii) and dimanganese(iii) bisporphyrins: modulation of metal spins by counter anions

A brief account has been presented on how the inter-heme interactions in μ-hydroxo diiron(iii) bisporphyrins and counter anions can induce significant change in the structure and properties including the iron spin state without affecting the overall topology.

(2,3,5,6-Tetrafluorophenolato-κO)(5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrinato)iron(III)

The title compound, [Fe(C₄₄H₂₈N₄)(C₆HF₄O)], is a porphyrin complex with iron(III) in fivefold coordination with a tetra­fluoro­phenolate group as the axial ligand. The Fe atom and the phenolate ligand are disordered across the porphyrin ring with the two phenolates appearing to be roughly related by a center of symmetry. The occupancies of the two phenolate groups refined to 0.788 (3) for the major component and 0.212 (3) for the minor component. The structure shows extraordinary Fe displacements of 0.488 (4) (major) and 0.673 (4) Å (minor) from the 24-atom mean plane of the porphyrin. The Fe—N_p distances range from 2.063 (4) to 2.187 (6) Å and the Fe—O distances are 1.903 (5) Å for major component and 1.87 (2) Å for minor component. The four phenyl groups attached to the porphyrin ring form dihedral angles of 63.4 (4), 49.6 (4), 62.4 (4), and 63.3 (4)° (in increasing numerical order) with the three nearest C atoms of the porphyrin ring. The major and minor component phenolate groups form dihedral angles of 24.9 (4)° and 24.8 (4)°, respectively, with the four porphyrin N atoms. The Fe⋯Fe distance between the two iron(III) atoms of adjacent porphyrin mol­ecules is 6.677 (3) Å. No close inter­molecular inter­action was observed. The crystal studied was twinned by inversion, with a major–minor component ratio of 0.53 (3):0.47 (3).

(2,3,5,6-Tetrafluorophenolato)[5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-methoxyphenyl)porphyrinato]iron(III) cyclohexane monosolvate

The title compound, [Fe(C₆HF₄O)(C₄₈H₃₆N₄O₄)]·C₆H₁₂, represents a five-coordinate iron(III) porphyrin complex in a square-pyramidal geometry with a tetra­fluoro­phenolate anion as the axial ligand. The Fe^III atom is displaced by 0.364 (2) Å from the 24-atom mean plane of the porphyrinate ring towards the tetra­fluoro phenolate anion. The average Fe—N distance is 2.053 (2) Å and the Fe—O distance is 1.883 (2) Å. A porphyrin aryl H atom points in the general direction of the phenoxide ring. The mean plane separation between the 24-atom porphyrin planes of two adjacent porphyrin rings is ∼3.7 Å, and the lateral shift is ∼3.5 Å resu, ting in an Fe⋯Fe separation of 5.6167 (14) Å.

Ferric complexes of 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones characterized by density functional theory and Raman and UV-vis spectroscopies

Deferiprone and other 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones are used in metal chelation therapy of iron overload. To investigate the structure and stability of these compounds in the natural aqueous environment, ferric complexes of deferiprone and amino acid maltol conjugates were synthesized and studied by computational and optical spectroscopic methods. The complexation caused characteristic intensity changes, a 300× overall enhancement of the Raman spectrum, and minor changes in UV-vis absorption. The spectra were interpreted on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The CAM-B3LYP and ωB97XD functionals with CPCM solvent model were found to be the most suitable for simulations of the UV-vis spectra, whereas B3LYP, B3LYPD, B3PW91, M05-2X, M06, LC-BLYP, ωB97XD, and CAM-B3LYP functionals were all useful for simulation of the Raman scattering. Characteristic Raman band frequencies for 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones were assigned to molecular vibrations. The computed conformer energies consistently suggest the presence of another isomer of the deferiprone-ferric complex in solution, in addition to that found previously by X-ray crystallography. However, the UV-vis and Raman spectra of the two species are similar and could not be resolved. In comparison to UV-vis, the Raman spectra and their combination with calculations appear more promising for future studies of iron sequestrating drugs and artificial metalloproteins as they are more sensitive to structural details.