Hydrogen-Bonding Effect on 13C and Proton Hyperfine Couplings of [4-13C]-Labeled Ubisemiquinones in Vitro

Asymmetric binding of the high-affinity Q(H)(*)(-) ubisemiquinone in quinol oxidase (bo3) from Escherichia coli studied by multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

Ubiquinone-2 (UQ-2) selectively labeled with (13)C (I =(1)/(2)) at either the position 1- or the 4-carbonyl carbon is incorporated into the ubiquinol oxidase bo(3) from Escherichia coli in which the native quinone (UQ-8) has been previously removed. The resulting stabilized anion radical in the high-affinity quinone-binding site (Q(H)(*)(-)) is investigated using multifrequency (9, 34, and 94 GHz) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The corresponding spectra reveal dramatic differences in (13)C hyperfine couplings indicating a strongly asymmetric spin density distribution over the quinone headgroup. By comparison with previous results on labeled ubisemiquinones in proteins as well as in organic solvents, it is concluded that Q(H)(*)(-) is most probably bound to the protein via a one-sided hydrogen bond or a strongly asymmetric hydrogen-bonding network. This observation is discussed with regard to the function of Q(H) in the enzyme and contrasted with the information available on other protein-bound semiquinone radicals.

Hydrogen-bonding dynamics in photoinduced electron transfer in a ferrocene-quinone linked dyad with a rigid amide spacer

A newly designed ferrocene-quinone dyad with an amide space (Fc-Q) is employed to examine formation of the hydrogen bonding in the one-electron reduced form (Q*-) and the dynamics in the photoinduced electron-transfer reaction from the ferrocene to the quinone moiety. Photoexcitation of the Q moiety in Fc-Q in deaerated PhCN with 388 nm results in intramolecular electron transfer from Fc to the singlet excited state of Q to produce Fc+-Q*- without changing the conformation (<1 ps), followed by hydrogen bond formation with the amide proton of the spacer (tau = approximately 5 ps). The resulting radical ion pair decays via a back electron transfer to the ground state at a longer time scale with a rate constant of 2.6 x 108 s-1.