Oxygen Activation by Rieske Non-Heme Iron Oxygenases, a Theoretical Insight

Abstract

The first steps of dioxygen activation in naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase have been investigated by means of hybrid density functional theory. Reduction of molecular oxygen by this Rieske dioxygenase occurs in the catalytic domain accommodating a mononuclear non-heme iron(II) complex, and it requires two external electrons ultimately delivered by a Rieske [2Fe−2S] cluster hosted in the neighboring domain. Theoretical tools have been applied to gain insight into the O2-binding step and into the first one-electron-transfer process involving the mononuclear and the Rieske centers, and yielding an iron(II)−superoxo intermediate. The reaction, which is mimicked with a model including both metal sites, is found to be a reversible equilibrium. Although the entropic loss associated with the binding of O2 to iron(II) is not canceled by the corresponding enthalpic binding energy, it is, however, balanced by the exothermicity of the electron transfer process from the Rieske cluster to the dioxygen-bound iron(II) complex...