ESEEM and mims ENDOR spectroscopies of cis,trans-(L-N2S2)MoVO(SCH2Ph): detection of the two benzylthiolate alpha protons

Determination of the g-Tensors and Their Orientations for cis,trans-(L-N2S2)MoVOX (X = Cl, SCH2Ph) by Single-Crystal EPR Spectroscopy and Molecular Orbital Calculations

A single-crystal study of cis,trans-(L-N2S2)MoVOCl (1) doped into cis,trans-(N2S2)MoVIO2 (3) has enabled the g-tensor of 1 and its orientation with respect to the molecular structure to be determined. The EPR parameters (g1, 2.004; g2, 1.960; g3, 1.946; A1, 71.7 x 10(-4) cm(-1); A2, 11.7 x 10(-4) cm(-1); A3, 32.0 x 10(-4) cm(-1)) of cis,trans-(L-N2S2)MoVOCl [L-N2S2H2 = N,N'-dimethyl-N,N'-bis(mercaptophenyl)ethylenediamine] mimic those of the low-pH form of sulfite oxidase and the "very rapid" species of xanthine oxidase. The principal axis that corresponds to g1 is rotated approximately 10 degrees from the Mo[triple bond]O vector, while the principal axis that corresponds to g3 is located in the equatorial plane and approximately 38 degrees from the Mo-Cl vector. Independent theoretical calculations of the g-tensor of 1 were performed using two types of techniques: (1) the spectroscopically parametrized intermediate neglect of differential overlap technique (INDO/S) combined with single-excitation configuration interaction (CIS); (2) a scalar relativistic DFT (BP86 and B3LYP functionals) treatment using the zeroth order regular approximation to relativistic effects (ZORA) in combination with recently developed accurate multicenter mean field spin-orbit operators (RI-SOMF) and the estimation of solvent effects using dielectric continuum theory at the conductor-like screening model (COSMO) level. The excellent agreement between experiment and theory, as well as the high consistency between the INDO/S and BP86/ZORA results, provides a sound basis for analysis of the calculated orientation of the g-tensor for cis,trans-(L-N2S2)MoVO(SCH2Ph) (2), for which single-crystal EPR data are not available but which contains three equatorial sulfur donor atoms, as occurs in sulfite oxidase and xanthine oxidase. The implications of these results for the EPR spectra of the Mo(V) centers of enzymes are discussed.

Models of the low-spin iron(III) hydroperoxide intermediate of heme oxygenase: magnetic resonance evidence for thermodynamic stabilization of the d(xy) electronic state at ambient temperatures

The (13)C pulsed ENDOR and NMR study of [meso-(13)C-TPPFe(OCH(3))(OO(t)Bu)](-) performed in this work shows that although the unpaired electron in low-spin ferrihemes containing a ROO(-) ligand resides in a d(pi) orbital at 8 K, the d(xy) electron configuration is favored at physiological temperatures. The variable temperature NMR spectra indicate a dynamic situation in which a heme with a d(pi) electron configuration and planar porphyrinate ring is in equilibrium with a d(xy) electron configuration that has a ruffled porphyrin ring. Because of the similarity in the EPR spectra of the hydroperoxide complexes of heme oxygenase, cytochrome P450, and the model heme complex reported herein, it is possible that these two electron configurations and ring conformations may also exist in equilibrium in the enzymatic systems. The ruffled porphyrinate ring would aid the attack of the terminal oxygen of the hydroperoxide intermediate of heme oxygenase (HO) on the meso-carbon, and the large spin density at the meso-carbons of a d(xy) electron configuration heme suggests the possibility of a radical mechanism for HO. The dynamic equilibrium between the ruffled (d(xy)) and planar (d(pi)) conformers observed in the model complexes also suggests that a flexible heme binding cavity may be an important structural motif for heme oxygenase activity.

Pulsed EPR studies of nonexchangeable protons near the Mo(V) center of sulfite oxidase: direct detection of the alpha-proton of the coordinated cysteinyl residue and structural implications for the active site

Pulsed electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectra of nonexchangeable protons in the vicinity of the Mo(V) center of the high pH (hpH) and low pH (lpH) forms of native chicken liver sulfite oxidase (SO) and recombinant human SO have been obtained and analyzed for the first time. The close similarity of the spectra for the chicken and human enzymes indicates that the structures of their molybdenum centers are essentially identical. For lpH SO, the closest nonexchangeable proton is found to be approximately 2.8 A from the Mo atom. To more accurately determine the distance to this proton and facilitate its assignment, the C-band electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectra of lpH SO were also analyzed. From the obtained distance and comparison with the X-ray structure, this closest nonexchangeable proton is assigned to the alpha-proton of the coordinated conserved cysteinyl residue (Cys185 in chicken, Cys207 in human). The closest Mo...H distance for the nonexchangeable protons of hpH SO is found to be approximately 3.3 A. For the cysteinyl alpha-proton, such an increase in the Mo...H distance only requires a very small change in torsional angles. This study demonstrates that details of the enzyme structural rearrangements with pH can be monitored by ENDOR spectroscopy and suggests that a similar approach may be routinely used to probe the orientation of the coordinated cysteinyl residue in mutant forms of SO that are catalytically compromised.

1H pulsed ENDOR and ESEEM evidence that the bis-imidazole complexes of iron(III) tetraphenylchlorin and tetraphenylporphyrin have the same order of g values, and the same electronic ground state

The electronic structures of the bis-imidazole complexes of iron(III) tetraphenylporphyrin ([(TPP)Fe(ImH)(2)](+)) and iron(III) tetraphenylchlorin ([(TPC)Fe(ImH)(2)](+)) in frozen glassy solutions have been studied by the pulsed electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) technique of Mims and by electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy. ESEEM spectra have been used to determine the orientation of the imidazole ligand planes with respect to the g tensor axes. In the ENDOR spectra, the manifestations of the implicit TRIPLE effect described and explained earlier by Doan et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 7014) were seen. In this work, the explicit expressions describing this effect were derived for the first time and used to successfully simulate the proton ENDOR spectra at the low- (LF) and high-field (HF) edges of the EPR spectrum. Using pulsed ENDOR, we have been able to determine the spin density distributions in the pi-systems of both tetrapyrroles and show that [(TPC)Fe(ImH)(2)](+) has the electronic orbital ground state (d(xy)())(2)(d(xz)(),d(yz)())(3), the same as that known for [(TPP)Fe(ImH)(2)](+), and the largest principal g value corresponds to the g tensor axis 3, which is normal to the heme plane. For the TPP complex, the g tensor axis 1, corresponding to the smallest principal g value, was found to be at an angle phi(1) of 30-35 degrees from the N-Fe-N axis, with the ligand planes rotated by the angle of 20-25 degrees in the opposite direction. For the TPC complex, phi(1) was found to be about 25 degrees from the direction N(I)-Fe-N(III), where N(I) corresponds to the nitrogen of the saturated pyrrole ring. The ligand planes in this complex were found to be oriented at an angle of about 10 degrees in the opposite direction.