1H-ENDOR evidence for a hydrogen-bonding interaction that modulates the reactivity of a nonheme Fe(IV)═O unit

Dioxygen Activation by Nonheme Diiron Enzymes: Diverse Dioxygen Adducts, High-Valent Intermediates, and Related Model Complexes

A growing subset of metalloenzymes activates dioxygen with nonheme diiron active sites to effect substrate oxidations that range from the hydroxylation of methane and the desaturation of fatty acids to the deformylation of fatty aldehydes to produce alkanes and the six-electron oxidation of aminoarenes to nitroarenes in the biosynthesis of antibiotics. A common feature of their reaction mechanisms is the formation of O2 adducts that evolve into more reactive derivatives such as diiron(II,III)-superoxo, diiron(III)-peroxo, diiron(III,IV)-oxo, and diiron(IV)-oxo species, which carry out particular substrate oxidation tasks. In this review, we survey the various enzymes belonging to this unique subset and the mechanisms by which substrate oxidation is carried out. We examine the nature of the reactive intermediates, as revealed by X-ray crystallography and the application of various spectroscopic methods and their associated reactivity. We also discuss the structural and electronic properties of the model complexes that have been found to mimic salient aspects of these enzyme active sites. Much has been learned in the past 25 years, but key questions remain to be answered.

Design of Heteronuclear Metalloenzymes

Heteronuclear metalloenzymes catalyze some of the most fundamentally interesting and practically useful reactions in nature. However, the presence of two or more metal ions in close proximity in these enzymes makes them more difficult to prepare and study than homonuclear metalloenzymes. To meet these challenges, heteronuclear metal centers have been designed into small and stable proteins with rigid scaffolds to understand how these heteronuclear centers are constructed and the mechanism of their function. This chapter describes methods for designing heterobinuclear metal centers in a protein scaffold by giving specific examples of a few heme-nonheme bimetallic centers engineered in myoglobin and cytochrome c peroxidase. We provide step-by-step procedures on how to choose the protein scaffold, design a heterobinuclear metal center in the protein scaffold computationally, incorporate metal ions into the protein, and characterize the resulting metalloproteins, both structurally and functionally. Finally, we discuss how an initial design can be further improved by rationally tuning its secondary coordination sphere, electron/proton transfer rates, and the substrate affinity.

HFEPR and Computational Studies on the Electronic Structure of a High-Spin Oxidoiron(IV) Complex in Solution

Nonheme iron enzymes perform diverse and important functions in biochemistry. The active form of these enzymes comprises the ferryl, oxidoiron(IV), [FeO](2+) unit. In enzymes, this unit is in the high-spin, quintet, S = 2, ground state, while many synthetic model compounds exist in the spin triplet, S = 1, ground state. Recently, however, Que and co-workers reported an oxidoiron(IV) complex with a quintet ground state, [FeO(TMG3tren)](OTf)2, where TMG3tren = 1,1,1-tris{2-[N2-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidino)]ethyl}amine and OTf = CF3SO3(-). The trigonal geometry imposed by this ligand, as opposed to the tetragonal geometry of earlier model complexes, favors the high-spin ground state. Although [FeO(TMG3tren)](2+) has been earlier probed by magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and Mössbauer spectroscopies, the technique of high-frequency and -field electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) is superior for describing the electronic structure of the iron(IV) center because of its ability to establish directly the spin-Hamiltonian parameters of high-spin metal centers with high precision. Herein we describe HFEPR studies on [FeO(TMG3tren)](OTf)2 generated in situ and confirm the S = 2 ground state with the following parameters: D = +4.940(5) cm(-1), E = 0.000(5), B4(0) = -14(1) × 10(-4) cm(-1), g⊥ = 2.006(2), and g∥ = 2.03(2). Extraction of a fourth-order spin-Hamiltonian parameter is unusual for HFEPR and impossible by other techniques. These experimental results are combined with state-of-the-art computational studies along with previous structural and spectroscopic results to provide a complete picture of the electronic structure of this biomimetic complex. Specifically, the calculations reproduce well the spin-Hamiltonian parameters of the complex, provide a satisfying geometrical picture of the S = 2 oxidoiron(IV) moiety, and demonstrate that the TMG3tren is an "innocent" ligand.

Toward the synthesis of more reactive S = 2 non-heme oxoiron(IV) complexes

2003 marked a banner year in the bioinorganic chemistry of mononuclear non-heme iron enzymes. The first non-heme oxoiron(IV) intermediate (called J) was trapped and characterized by Bollinger and Krebs in the catalytic cycle of taurine dioxygenase (TauD), and the first crystal structure of a synthetic non-heme oxoiron(IV) complex was reported by Münck, Nam, and Que. These results stimulated inorganic chemists to synthesize related oxoiron(IV) complexes to shed light on the electronic structures and spectroscopic properties of these novel intermediates and gain mechanistic insights into their function in biology. All of the biological oxoiron(IV) intermediates discovered since 2003 have an S = 2 ground spin state, while over 90% of the 60 or so synthetic oxoiron(IV) complexes reported to date have an S = 1 ground spin state. This difference in electronic structure has fueled an interest to more accurately model these enzymatic intermediates and synthesize S = 2 oxoiron(IV) complexes.

This Account follows up on a previous Account (Acc. Chem. Res. 2007, 40, 493) that provided a perspective on the early developments in this field up to 2007 and details our group’s efforts in the development of synthetic strategies to obtain oxoiron(IV) complexes with an S = 2 ground state. Upon inspection of a qualitative d-orbital splitting diagram for a d⁴ metal–oxo center, it becomes evident that the key to achieving an S = 2 ground state is to decrease the energy gap between the d_x²–y² and d_xy orbitals. Described below are two different synthetic strategies we used to accomplish this goal.

The first strategy took advantage of the realization that the d_x²–y² and d_xy orbitals become degenerate in a C₃-symmetric ligand environment. Thus, by employing bulky tripodal ligands, trigonal-bipyramidal S = 2 oxoiron(IV) complexes were obtained. However, substrate access to the oxoiron(IV) center was hindered by the bulky ligands, and the complexes showed limited ability to cleave substrate C–H bonds. The second strategy entailed introducing weaker-field equatorial ligands in six-coordinate oxoiron(IV) complexes to decrease the d_x²–y²/d_xy energy gap to the point where the S = 2 ground state is favored. These pseudo-octahedral S = 2 oxoiron(IV) complexes exhibit high H-atom transfer reactivity relative to their S = 1 counterparts and shed light on the role that the spin state may play in these reactions. Among these complexes is a highly reactive species that to date represents the closest electronic and functional model of the enzymatic intermediate, TauD-J.

Enhanced electron-transfer reactivity of nonheme manganese(IV)-oxo complexes by binding scandium ions

One and two scandium ions (Sc(3+)) are bound strongly to nonheme manganese(IV)-oxo complexes, [(N4Py)Mn(IV)(O)](2+) (N4Py = N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-N-bis(2-pyridyl)methylamine) and [(Bn-TPEN)Mn(IV)(O)](2+) (Bn-TPEN = N-benzyl-N,N',N'-tris(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,2-diaminoethane), to form Mn(IV)(O)-(Sc(3+))1 and Mn(IV)(O)-(Sc(3+))2 complexes, respectively. The binding of Sc(3+) ions to the Mn(IV)(O) complexes was examined by spectroscopic methods as well as by DFT calculations. The one-electron reduction potentials of the Mn(IV)(O) complexes were markedly shifted to a positive direction by binding of Sc(3+) ions. Accordingly, rates of the electron transfer reactions of the Mn(IV)(O) complexes were enhanced as much as 10(7)-fold by binding of two Sc(3+) ions. The driving force dependence of electron transfer from various electron donors to the Mn(IV)(O) and Mn(IV)(O)-(Sc(3+))2 complexes was examined and analyzed in light of the Marcus theory of electron transfer to determine the reorganization energies of electron transfer. The smaller reorganization energies and much more positive reduction potentials of the Mn(IV)(O)-(Sc(3+))2 complexes resulted in remarkable enhancement of the electron-transfer reactivity of the Mn(IV)(O) complexes. Such a dramatic enhancement of the electron-transfer reactivity of the Mn(IV)(O) complexes by binding of Sc(3+) ions resulted in the change of mechanism in the sulfoxidation of thioanisoles by Mn(IV)(O) complexes from a direct oxygen atom transfer pathway without metal ion binding to an electron-transfer pathway with binding of Sc(3+) ions.

Hydrogen-bonding effects on the reactivity of [X-Fe(III)-O-Fe(IV)═O] (X = OH, F) complexes toward C-H bond cleavage

Complexes 1-OH and 1-F are related complexes that share similar [X-Fe(III)-O-Fe(IV)═O](3+) core structures with a total spin S of ½, which arises from antiferromagnetic coupling of an S = 5/2 Fe(III)-X site and an S = 2 Fe(IV)═O site. EXAFS analysis shows that 1-F has a nearly linear Fe(III)-O-Fe(IV) core compared to that of 1-OH, which has an Fe-O-Fe angle of ~130° due to the presence of a hydrogen bond between the hydroxo and oxo groups. Both complexes are at least 1000-fold more reactive at C-H bond cleavage than 2, a related complex with a [OH-Fe(IV)-O-Fe(IV)═O](4+) core having individual S = 1 Fe(IV) units. Interestingly, 1-F is 10-fold more reactive than 1-OH. This raises an interesting question about what gives rise to the reactivity difference. DFT calculations comparing 1-OH and 1-F strongly suggest that the H-bond in 1-OH does not significantly change the electrophilicity of the reactive Fe(IV)═O unit and that the lower reactivity of 1-OH arises from the additional activation barrier required to break its H-bond in the course of H-atom transfer by the oxoiron(IV) moiety.