Ground-state electronic and magnetic properties of a mu3-oxo-bridged trinuclear Cu(II) complex: correlation to the native intermediate of the multicopper oxidases

Tuning the Type 1 Reduction Potential of Multicopper Oxidases: Uncoupling the Effects of Electrostatics and H-Bonding to Histidine Ligands

In multicopper oxidases (MCOs), the type 1 (T1) Cu accepts electrons from the substrate and transfers these to the trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC) where O₂ is reduced to H₂O. The T1 potential in MCOs varies from 340 to 780 mV, a range not explained by the existing literature. This study focused on the ∼350 mV difference in potential of the T1 center in Fet3p and Trametes versicolor laccase (TvL) that have the same 2His1Cys ligand set. A range of spectroscopies performed on the oxidized and reduced T1 sites in these MCOs shows that they have equivalent geometric and electronic structures. However, the two His ligands of the T1 Cu in Fet3p are H-bonded to carboxylate residues, while in TvL they are H-bonded to noncharged groups. Electron spin echo envelope modulation spectroscopy shows that there are significant differences in the second-sphere H-bonding interactions in the two T1 centers. Redox titrations on type 2-depleted derivatives of Fet3p and its D409A and E185A variants reveal that the two carboxylates (D409 and E185) lower the T1 potential by 110 and 255-285 mV, respectively. Density functional theory calculations uncouple the effects of the charge of the carboxylates and their difference in H-bonding interactions with the His ligands on the T1 potential, indicating 90-150 mV for anionic charge and ∼100 mV for a strong H-bond. Finally, this study provides an explanation for the generally low potentials of metallooxidases relative to the wide range of potentials of the organic oxidases in terms of different oxidized states of their TNCs involved in catalytic turnover.

Challenges in Elucidating the Free Energy Scheme of the Laccase Catalyzed Reduction of Oxygen

Artificial redox catalysts are typically limited by unfavorable scaling relations of reaction intermediates leading to a significant overpotential in multi-electron redox reactions such as for example the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The multicopper oxidase laccase is able to catalyze the ORR in nature. In particular the high-potential variants show a remarkably low overpotential for the ORR and apparently do not suffer from such unfavorable scaling relations. Although laccases are intensively studied, it is presently unknown why the overpotential for ORR is so low and a clear description regarding the thermodynamics of the catalytic cycle and the underlying design principles is lacking. In order to understand the laccase catalyzed ORR from an electrochemical perspective, elucidation of the free energy scheme would be of high value. This article reviews the energetics of the proposed laccase catalyzed ORR mechanisms based on experimental and computational studies. However, there are still remaining challenges to overcome to elucidate the free energy scheme of laccase. Obtaining thermodynamic data on intermediates is hard or even impossible with analytical techniques. On the other hand, several computational studies have been performed with significantly different parameters and conditions, thus making a direct comparison difficult. For these reasons, a consensus on a clear free energy scheme is still lacking. We anticipate that ultimately conquering these challenges will result in a better understanding of laccase catalyzed ORR and will allow for the design of low overpotential redox catalysts.

From Gas Phase Observations to Solid State Reality: The Identification and Isolation of Trinuclear Salicylaldoximato Copper Complexes

Conditions have been identified in which phenolic aldoximes and ketoximes of the types used in commercial solvent extraction processes can be doubly deprotonated and generate polynuclear Cu complexes with lower extractant:Cu molar ratios than those found in commercial operations. Electrospray mass spectrometry has provided an insight into the solution speciation in extraction experiments and has identified conditions to allow isolation and characterization of polynuclear Cu-complexes. Elevation of pH is effective in enhancing the formation of trinuclear complexes containing planar {Cu₃-μ₃-O}⁴⁺ or {Cu₃-μ₃-OH}⁵⁺ units. DFT calculations suggest that such trinuclear complexes are more stable than other polynuclear species. Solid structures of complexes formed by a salicylaldoxime with a piperidino substituent ortho to the phenolic OH group (L⁹H₂) contain two trinuclear units in a supramolecular assembly, {[Cu₃OH(L⁹H)₃(ClO₄)](ClO₄)} ₂, formed by H-bonding between the central {Cu₃-μ₃-OH}⁵⁺ units and oxygen atoms in the ligands of an adjacent complex. Whilst the lower ligand:Cu molar ratios provide more efficient Cu-loading in solvent extraction processes, the requirement to raise the pH of the aqueous phase to achieve this will make it impractical in most commercial operations because extraction will be accompanied by the precipitation (as oxyhydroxides) of Fe(III) which is present in significant quantities in feed solutions generated by acid leaching of most Cu ores.

New Syntheses, Analytic Spin Hamiltonians, Structural and Computational Characterization for a Series of Tri-, Hexa- and Hepta-Nuclear Copper (II) Complexes with Prototypic Patterns

We present a series of pyrazolato-bridged copper complexes with interesting structures that can be considered prototypic patterns for tri-, hexa- and hepta- nuclear systems. The trinuclear shows an almost regular triangle with a μ3-OH central group. The hexanuclear has identical monomer units, the Cu6 system forming a regular hexagon. The heptanuclear can be described as two trinuclear moieties sandwiching a central copper ion via carboxylate bridges. In the heptanuclear system, the pyrazolate bridges are consolidating the triangular faces, which are sketching an elongated trigonal antiprism. The magnetic properties of these systems, dominated by the strong antiferromagnetism along the pyrazolate bridges, were described transparently, outlining the energy levels formulas in terms of Heisenberg exchange parameters J, within the specific topologies. We succeeded in finding a simple Kambe-type resolution of the Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian for the rather complex case of the heptanuclear. In a similar manner, the weak intermolecular coupling of two trimer units (aside from the strong exchange inside triangles) was resolved by closed energy formulas. The hexanuclear can be legitimately proposed as a case of coordination-based aromaticity, since the phenomenology of the six-spins problem resembles the bonding in benzene. The Broken-Symmetry Density Functional Theory (BS-DFT) calculations are non-trivial results, being intrinsically difficult at high nuclearities.

Encapsulation of tricopper cluster in a synthetic cryptand enables facile redox processes from CuICuICuI to CuIICuIICuII states

One-pot reaction of tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (TREN), [Cu^I(MeCN)₄]PF₆, and paraformaldehyde affords a mixed-valent [TREN4Cu^IICu^ICu^I(μ₃-OH)](PF₆)₃ complex. The macrocyclic azacryptand TREN4 contains four TREN motifs, three of which provide a bowl-shape binding pocket for the [Cu₃(μ₃-OH)]³⁺ core. The fourth TREN caps on top of the tricopper cluster to form a cryptand, imposing conformational constraints and preventing solvent interaction. Contrasting the limited redox capability of synthetic tricopper complexes reported so far, [TREN4Cu^IICu^ICu^I(μ₃-OH)](PF₆)₃ exhibits several reversible single-electron redox events. The distinct electrochemical behaviors of [TREN4Cu^IICu^ICu^I(μ₃-OH)](PF₆)₃ and its solvent-exposed analog [TREN3Cu^IICu^IICu^II(μ₃-O)](PF₆)₄ suggest that isolation of tricopper core in a cryptand enables facile electron transfer, allowing potential application of synthetic tricopper complexes as redox catalysts. Indeed, the fully reduced [TREN4Cu^ICu^ICu^I(μ₃-OH)](PF₆)₂ can reduce O₂ under acidic conditions. The geometric constraints provided by the cryptand are reminiscent of Nature's multicopper oxidases (MCOs). For the first time, a synthetic tricopper cluster was isolated and fully characterized at Cu^ICu^ICu^I (4a), Cu^IICu^ICu^I (4b), and Cu^IICu^IICu^I (4c) states, providing structural and spectroscopic models for many intermediates in MCOs. Fast electron transfer rates (10⁵ to 10⁶ M^-1 s^-1) were observed for both Cu^ICu^ICu^I/Cu^IICu^ICu^I and Cu^IICu^ICu^I/Cu^IICu^IICu^I redox couples, approaching the rapid electron transfer rates of copper sites in MCO.

O2 Reduction to Water by High Potential Multicopper Oxidases: Contributions of the T1 Copper Site Potential and the Local Environment of the Trinuclear Copper Cluster

High potential multicopper oxidases (MCOs) have T1 reduction potentials >600 mV (vs normal hydrogen electrode), making them important catalysts for O₂ reduction in various biotechnological applications. The oxygen reduction mechanism for the low potential MCOs is well-characterized; however, O₂ reactivity of high potential MCOs is not well understood. In this study, we have shown that laccase from Trametes versicolor, where the T1 redox potential is increased by ∼350 mV over that of the low potential MCOs corresponding to an 8 kcal/mol decrease in the driving force, exhibits a slower intramolecular electron transfer (IET) rate to the trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC) in the native intermediate (NI), relative to the low potential MCO from Rhus vernicifera laccase. This IET rate is, however, >10² times faster than the decay rate of the NI, demonstrating that this intermediate form of the enzyme is catalytically relevant enabling fast turnover. However, in contrast to the low potential MCOs where T1 reduction by substrate is rate limiting, the rate limiting step in turnover of high potential MCOs is the first IET to NI. Part of the reduction potential difference of the T1 sites in high vs low potential MCOs is balanced by an ∼100 mV higher reduction potential of NI due to the more positive protein environment in the vicinity of the TNC.

Hubbard Trimer with Spin-Orbit Coupling: Hartree-Fock Solutions, (Non)Collinearity, and Anisotropic Spin Hamiltonian

We present unrestricted and generalized Hartree-Fock solutions (UHF and GHF, respectively) for the single-band Hubbard model of an equilateral triangle. Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is treated self-consistently, and HF stability and properties of different spin structures are studied in detail. The GHF solution switches from noncollinear to collinear when crossing a high-symmetry point in parameter space (spanned by the amplitudes of spin-conserving and spin-dependent hopping, i.e., kinetic energy and SOC, respectively). The collinear GHF solution represents a simple example to disprove the notion that a collinear vector spin density in a Slater determinant necessarily entails a defined spin projection. Spin Hamiltonian parameters for the anisotropic interaction between three spin-1/2 centers are extracted from HF energies and subsequently compared to exact results from effective Hamiltonian theory. This provides an unambiguous benchmark for interpreting broken-symmetry mean-field solutions in terms of spin configurations and puts this semiclassical approach (frequently applied in broken-symmetry density functional theory) on a firmer basis.

Stable NiII Porphyrin meso-Oxy Radical with a Quartet Ground State

10,15,20-Tris(pentafluorophenyl)-substituted Ni^II -porphyrin meso-oxy radical bearing two coordinating pyridines was synthesized as a stable radical with a quartet ground state (S=3/2). X-ray structural analysis revealed that the Ni^II porphyrin moiety is fairly planar and the Ni-N bond lengths are considerably longer, indicating the high-spin state of the Ni^II center. The radical exhibited a quartet ground state, indicating the ferromagnetic interaction between the high-spin Ni^II center (S=1) and the porphyrin meso-oxy radical (S=1/2).

Activation of dioxygen by copper metalloproteins and insights from model complexes

Nature uses dioxygen as a key oxidant in the transformation of biomolecules. Among the enzymes that are utilized for these reactions are copper-containing metalloenzymes, which are responsible for important biological functions such as the regulation of neurotransmitters, dioxygen transport, and cellular respiration. Enzymatic and model system studies work in tandem in order to gain an understanding of the fundamental reductive activation of dioxygen by copper complexes. This review covers the most recent advancements in the structures, spectroscopy, and reaction mechanisms for dioxygen-activating copper proteins and relevant synthetic models thereof. An emphasis has also been placed on cofactor biogenesis, a fundamentally important process whereby biomolecules are post-translationally modified by the pro-enzyme active site to generate cofactors which are essential for the catalytic enzymatic reaction. Significant questions remaining in copper-ion-mediated O2-activation in copper proteins are addressed.

Copper-Oxygen Complexes Revisited: Structures, Spectroscopy, and Reactivity

A longstanding research goal has been to understand the nature and role of copper-oxygen intermediates within copper-containing enzymes and abiological catalysts. Synthetic chemistry has played a pivotal role in highlighting the viability of proposed intermediates and expanding the library of known copper-oxygen cores. In addition to the number of new complexes that have been synthesized since the previous reviews on this topic in this journal (Mirica, L. M.; Ottenwaelder, X.; Stack, T. D. P. Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 1013-1046 and Lewis, E. A.; Tolman, W. B. Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 1047-1076), the field has seen significant expansion in the (1) range of cores synthesized and characterized, (2) amount of mechanistic work performed, particularly in the area of organic substrate oxidation, and (3) use of computational methods for both the corroboration and prediction of proposed intermediates. The scope of this review has been limited to well-characterized examples of copper-oxygen species but seeks to provide a thorough picture of the spectroscopic characteristics and reactivity trends of the copper-oxygen cores discussed.

Molecular design of a novel ligand for Menshutkin complexation of Bi(iii) from aqueous acidic copper sulfate electrolyte solutions and experimental investigations

A novel silica functionalised phen–arene adsorbent exhibits reversible and highly selective adsorption of Bi(iii) over Cu(ii) ions by Menshutkin complexation from an aqueous acidic copper electrolyte solution.

Highly efficient perturbative + variational strategy based on orthogonal valence bond theory for the evaluation of magnetic coupling constants. Application to the trinuclear Cu(ii) site of multicopper oxidases

A new perturbative + variational strategy: a low-cost, quantitative and rational evaluation of the magnetic coupling constant in complex systems.

Electron transfer and reaction mechanism of laccases

Laccases are part of the family of multicopper oxidases (MCOs), which couple the oxidation of substrates to the four electron reduction of O2 to H2O. MCOs contain a minimum of four Cu's divided into Type 1 (T1), Type 2 (T2), and binuclear Type 3 (T3) Cu sites that are distinguished based on unique spectroscopic features. Substrate oxidation occurs near the T1, and electrons are transferred approximately 13 Å through the protein via the Cys-His pathway to the T2/T3 trinuclear copper cluster (TNC), where dioxygen reduction occurs. This review outlines the electron transfer (ET) process in laccases, and the mechanism of O2 reduction as elucidated through spectroscopic, kinetic, and computational data. Marcus theory is used to describe the relevant factors which impact ET rates including the driving force, reorganization energy, and electronic coupling matrix element. Then, the mechanism of O2 reaction is detailed with particular focus on the intermediates formed during the two 2e(-) reduction steps. The first 2e(-) step forms the peroxide intermediate, followed by the second 2e(-) step to form the native intermediate, which has been shown to be the catalytically relevant fully oxidized form of the enzyme.

Large zero-field splittings of the ground spin state arising from antisymmetric exchange effects in heterometallic triangles

[Ru2Mn(O)(O2CtBu)6(py)3] has an S=5/2 ground state with a very large zero-field splitting (ZFS) of D=2.9 cm(-1), as characterized by EPR spectroscopy at 4-330 GHz. This is far too large to be due to the Mn(II) ion (D <0.2 cm(-1)), as shown from the {Fe2Mn} analogue, but can be modeled by antisymmetric exchange effects.

Saddling up copper – new twists on a metallo-wheel

An octanuclear copper(ii) cluster assembled from a large, flexible polydentate ligand reveals an unusual saddle-shaped structural topology.

Theoretical description of the magnetic properties of μ3-hydroxo bridged trinuclear copper(II) complexes

A theoretical study of the magnetic properties, using density functional theory, of a family of trinuclear μ3-OH copper(II) complexes reported in the literature is presented. The reported X-ray crystal structures of [Cu3(μ3-OH)(aat)3(H2O)3](NO3)2 · H2O (HUKDUM), where aat: 3-acetylamine-1,2,4-triazole; [Cu3(μ3-OH)(aaat)3(H2SO4)(HSO4)(H2O)] (HUKDOG), where aaat: 3-acetylamine-5-amine-1,2,4-triazole; [Cu3(μ3-OH)(PhPyCNO)3(tchlphac)2] (HOHQUR), where PhPyCNO: phenyl 2-pyridyl-ketoxime and tchlphac: acid 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic; [Cu3(μ3-OH)(PhPyCNO)3(NO3)2(CH3OH)] (ILEGEM); [Cu3(μ3-OH)(pz)3(Hpz)3(ClO4)2] (QOPJIP), where Hpz = pyrazole; [Cu3(μ3-OH)(pz)3(Hpz)(Me3CCOO)2] ∙ 2Me3CCOOH (DEFSEN) and [Cu3(μ3-OH)(8-amino-4-methyl-5-azaoct-3-en-2-one)3][CuI3] (RITXUO), were used in the calculations. The magnetic exchange constants were calculated using the broken-symmetry approach. The calculated J values are for HUKDUM J1 = -68.6 cm(-1), J2 = -69.9 cm(-1), J3 = -70.4 cm(-1); for HUKDOG, J1 = -73.5 cm(-1), J2 = -58.9 cm(-1), J3 = -62.1 cm(-1); for HOHQUR J1 = -128.3 cm(-1), J2 = -134.1 cm(-1), J3 = -120.4 cm(-1); for ILEGEM J1 = -151.6 cm(-1), J2 = -173.9 cm(-1), J3 = -186.9 cm(-1); for QOPJIP J1 = -118.3 cm(-1), J2 = -106.0 cm(-1), J3 = -120.6 cm(-1); for DEFSEN J1 = -74.9 cm(-1), J2 = -64.0 cm(-1), J3 = -57.7 cm(-1) and for RITXUO J1 = -10.9 cm(-1), J2 = +14.3 cm(-1), J3 = -35.4 cm(-1). The Kahn-Briat model was used to correlate the calculated magnetic properties with the overlap of the magnetic orbitals. Spin density surfaces show that the delocalization mechanism is predominant in all the studied compounds.

Multireference ab initio calculations of g tensors for trinuclear copper clusters in multicopper oxidases

EPR spectroscopy has proven to be an indispensable tool in elucidating the structure of metal sites in proteins. In recent years, experimental EPR data have been complemented by theoretical calculations, which have become a standard tool of many quantum chemical packages. However, there have only been a few attempts to calculate EPR g tensors for exchange-coupled systems with more than two spins. In this work, we present a quantum chemical study of structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of intermediates in the reaction cycle of multicopper oxidases and of their inorganic models. All these systems contain three copper(II) ions bridged by hydroxide or O(2-) anions and their ground states are antiferromagnetically coupled doublets. We demonstrate that only multireference methods, such as CASSCF/CASPT2 or MRCI can yield qualitatively correct results (compared to the experimental values) and consider the accuracy of the calculated EPR g tensors as the current benchmark of quantum chemical methods. By decomposing the calculated g tensors into terms arising from interactions of the ground state with the various excited states, the origin of the zero-field splitting is explained. The results of the study demonstrate that a truly quantitative prediction of the g tensors of exchange-coupled systems is a great challenge to contemporary theory. The predictions strongly depend on small energy differences that are difficult to predict with sufficient accuracy by any quantum chemical method that is applicable to systems of the size of our target systems.

Multicopper oxidases: a workshop on copper coordination chemistry, electron transfer, and metallophysiology

Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) are unique among copper proteins in that they contain at least one each of the three types of biologic copper sites, type 1, type 2, and the binuclear type 3. MCOs are descended from the family of small blue copper proteins (cupredoxins) that likely arose as a complement to the heme-iron-based cytochromes involved in electron transport; this event corresponded to the aerobiosis of the biosphere that resulted in the conversion of Fe(II) to Fe(III) as the predominant redox state of this essential metal and the solubilization of copper from Cu(2)S to Cu(H(2)O)( n ) (2+). MCOs are encoded in genomes in all three kingdoms and play essential roles in the physiology of essentially all aerobes. With four redox-active copper centers, MCOs share with terminal copper-heme oxidases the ability to catalyze the four-electron reduction of O(2) to two molecules of water. The electron transfers associated with this reaction are both outer and inner sphere in nature and their mechanisms have been fairly well established. A subset of MCO proteins exhibit specificity for Fe(2+), Cu(+), and/or Mn(2+) as reducing substrates and have been designated as metallooxidases. These enzymes, in particular the ferroxidases found in all fungi and metazoans, play critical roles in the metal metabolism of the expressing organism.

The Fox1 ferroxidase of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: a new multicopper oxidase structural paradigm

Multicopper oxidases (MCO) contain at least four copper atoms arrayed in three distinct ligand fields supported by two canonical structural features: (1) multiples of the cupredoxin fold and (2) four unique sequence elements that include the ten histidine and one cysteine ligands to the four copper atoms. Ferroxidases are a subfamily of MCO proteins that contain residues supporting a specific reactivity towards ferrous iron; these MCOs play a vital role in iron metabolism in bacteria, algae, fungi, and mammals. In contrast to the fungal ferroxidases, e.g., Fet3p from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mammalian ceruloplasmin (Cp) is twice as large (six vs. three cupredoxin domains) and contains three type 1, or "blue," copper sites. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii expresses a putative ferroxidase, Fox1, which has sequence similarity to human Cp (hCp). Eschewing the standard sequence-based modeling paradigm, we have constructed a function-based model of the Fox1 protein which replicates hCp's six copper-site ligand arrays with an overall root mean square deviation of 1.4 A. Analysis of this model has led also to assignment of motifs in Fox1 that are unique to ferroxidases, the strongest evidence to date that the well-characterized fungal high-affinity iron uptake system is essential to iron homeostasis in green algae. The model of Fox1 also establishes a subfamily of MCO proteins with a noncanonical copper-ligand organization. These diverse structures suggest alternative mechanisms for intramolecular electron transfer and require a new trajectory for the evolution of the MCO superfamily.