Exogenous Axial Ligand Research Articles

Dynamics of heme in hemoproteins: proton NMR study of myoglobin reconstituted with iron 3-ethyl-2-methylporphyrin

The asymmetric 3-ethyl-2-methylporphyrin iron complex was synthetized and inserted into apomyoglobin. UV–visible spectroscopic studies demonstrated the capacity of iron to coordinate different exogenous axial ligands in ferrous and ferric forms. The position of synthetic heme into the hydrophobic pocket of the reconstituted myoglobin was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. In absence of exogenous ligand, signals of the synthetic prosthetic group were not detected, suggesting a rotational disorder of the synthetic porphyrin into the heme pocket. This direct interconversion behavior is favored since site-specific interactions between the poorly substituted heme and protein in the chiral hydrophobic cavity were weak. Complexion of cyanide to the iron allowed to quench partially the heme reorientation and two interconvertible forms, around the meso-Cα–Cγ axis, were detected in solution.

Creation of a Type 1 Blue Copper Site within a de Novo Coiled-Coil Protein Scaffold

Type 1 blue copper proteins uniquely coordinate Cu(2+) in a trigonal planar geometry, formed by three strong equatorial ligands, His, His, and Cys, in the protein. We designed a stable Cu(2+) coordination scaffold composed of a four-stranded α-helical coiled-coil structure. Two His residues and one Cys residue were situated to form the trigonal planar geometry and to coordinate the Cu(2+) in the hydrophobic core of the scaffold. The protein bound Cu(2+), displayed a blue color, and exhibited UV-vis spectra with a maximum of 602-616 nm, arising from the thiolate-Cu(2+) ligand to metal charge transfer, depending on the exogenous axial ligand, Cl(-) or HPO(4)(2-). The protein-Cu(2+) complex also showed unresolved small A(∥) values in the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectral analysis and a 328 mV (vs normal hydrogen electrode, NHE) redox potential with a fast electron reaction rate. The X-ray absorption spectrum revealed that the Cu(2+) coordination environment was identical to that found in natural type 1 blue copper proteins. The extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis of the protein showed two typical Cu-N(His) at around 1.9-2.0 Å, Cu-S(Cys) at 2.3 Å, and a long Cu-Cl at a 2.66 Å, which are also characteristic of the natural type 1 blue copper proteins.

Homoleptic dirhodium tetraoctanoate and its pyridine adduct: synthesis and crystal structures

Dirhodium tetraoctanoate (1), without any exogenous axial ligands, has been obtained in crystalline form by slow evaporation from ethanol. The molecules are linked by axially ligating each other to form infinite chains, which is similar to the only other two structurally characterized rhodium(II) carboxylates, Rh2(O2CCF3)4 and Rh2(O2CC3H7)4, which also lack exogenous axial ligands. The infinite chains of 1 are cleaved by strong donor solvents such as pyridine to produce the corresponding pyridine adduct (2). Both the complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, MS, IR and NMR spectra.

Assignment of the Ferriheme Resonances of the Low-Spin Complexes of Nitrophorins 1 and 4 by 1H and 13C NMR Spectroscopy: Comparison to Structural Data Obtained from X-ray Crystallography

In this work we report the assignment of the majority of the ferriheme resonances of low-spin nitrophorins (NP) 1 and 4 and compare them to those of NP2, published previously. It is found that the structure of the ferriheme complexes of NP1 and NP4, in terms of the orientation of the ligand(s), can be determined with good accuracy by NMR techniques in the low-spin forms and that angle plots proposed previously (Shokhirev, N. V.; Walker, F. A. J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 1998, 3, 581-594) describe the angle of the effective nodal plane of the axial ligands in solution. The effective nodal plane of low-spin NP1, NP4, and NP2 complexes is in all cases of imidazole and histamine complexes quite similar to the average of the His-59 or -57 and the exogenous ligand angles seen in the X-ray crystal structures. For the cyanide complexes of the nitrophorins, however, the effective nodal plane of the axial ligand does not coincide with the actual histidine-imidazole plane orientation. This appears to be a result of the contribution of an additional source of asymmetry, the orientation of one of the zero-ruffling lines of the heme. Probably this effect exists for the imidazole and histamine complexes as well, but because the effect of asymmetry that occurs from planar exogenous axial ligands is much larger than the effect of heme ruffling the effect of the zero-ruffling line can only be detected for the cyanide complexes, where the only ligand plane is that of the proximal histidine. The three-dimensional structures of the three NP-CN complexes, including that of NP2-CN reported herein, confirm the high degree of ruffling of these complexes. There is an equilibrium between the two heme orientations (A and B) that depends on the heme cavity shape and changes somewhat with exogenous axial ligand. The A:B ratio can be much more accurately measured by NMR spectroscopy than by X-ray crystallography.

Cyclohexane hydroxylation by iodosylbenzene and iodobenzene diacetate catalyzed by a new β-octahalogenated Mn–porphyrin complex: The effect of meso-3-pyridyl substituents

The synthesis of 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octabromo-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-pyridyl)porphyrinatomanganese(II) (Mn(II)Br8T3PyP), a new compound, is described along with some of its electrochemical and catalytic properties. Relative to 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-pyridyl)porphyrinatomanganese(III) chloride (Mn(III)T3PyPCl, E1/2=−0.07V versus SCE, N,N-dimethylformamide) the Mn(III)/Mn(II) reduction potential of Mn(II)Br8T3PyP shows anodic shift of 0.66V. These compounds have been studied as catalysts in the hydroxylation of cyclohexane by iodosylbenzene (PhIO) and iodobenzene diacetate (PhI(OAc)2). The roles of water and an exogenous axial ligand (imidazole) were also examined. The results show that whereas Mn(III)T3PyPCl performs much better with PhI(OAc)2, Mn(II)Br8T3PyP performs better with PhIO; no significant differences in selectivity were observed on changing the oxygen donor. Moderate to good catalytic efficiency may be achieved with the use of a low oxidation-state Mn–porphyrin catalyst, i.e. Mn(II)Br8T3PyP, but the β-octabromination in this particular case neither increased overall catalyst performance (as compared to the non-brominated analogue), nor yielded a more oxidatively robust catalyst. Catalytic and electrochemical properties of these 3-pyridyl systems are in sharp contrast with their isomeric, 2-pyridyl counter-parts.

Ligand design and self-recognition: a copper(II) complex that dimerizes via hydrogen bonds

The ligand ethylene-dianthranilate ( 1) can accommodate both tetrahedral and square-planar coordination geometries. When bound to Cu(II) and in the presence of an exogenous axial ligand, 1 adopts an equatorial binding mode. This coordination enforces a parallel geometry of the NH bonds and, by molecular self-recognition, predisposes the complex to dimerization by forming back-to-back hydrogen bonding interactions.

Cryoreduction of methyl-coenzyme M reductase: EPR characterization of forms, MCR(ox1) and MCR (red1).

Methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) catalyzes the formation of methyl-coenzyme M (CH(3)S-CH(2)CH(2)SO(3)) from methane. The active site is a nickel tetrahydrocorphinoid cofactor, factor 430, which in inactive form contains EPR-silent Ni(II). Two such forms, denoted MCR(silent) and MCR(ox1)(-)(silent), were previously structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. We describe here the cryoreduction of both of these MCR forms by gamma-irradiation at 77 K, which yields reduced protein maintaining the structure of the oxidized starting material. Cryoreduction of MCR(silent) yields an EPR signal that strongly resembles that of MCR(red1), the active form of MCR; and stepwise annealing to 260-270 K leads to formation of MCR(red1). Cryoreduction of MCR(ox1)(-)(silent) solutions shows that our preparative method for this state yields enzyme that contains two major forms. One behaves similarly to MCR(silent), as shown by the observation that both of these forms give essentially the same redlike EPR signals upon cryoreduction, both of which give MCR(red1) upon annealing. The other form is assigned to the crystallographically characterized MCR(ox1)(-)(silent) and directly gives MCR(ox1) upon cryoreduction. X-band spectra of these cryoreduced samples, and of conventionally prepared MCR(red1) and MCR(ox1), all show resolved hyperfine splitting from four equivalent nitrogen ligands with coupling constants in agreement with those determined in previous EPR studies and from (14)N ENDOR of MCR(red1) and MCR(ox1). These experiments have confirmed that all EPR-visible forms of MCR contain Ni(I) and for the first time generated in vitro the EPR-visible, enzymatically active MCR(red1) and the activate-able "ready" MCR(ox1) from "silent" precursors. Because the solution Ni(II) species we assign as MCR(ox1)(-)(silent) gives as its primary cryoreduction product the Ni(I) state MCR(ox1), previous crystallographic data on MCR(ox1)(-)(silent) allow us to identify the exogenous axial ligand in MCR(ox1) as the thiolate from CoM; the cryoreduction experiments further allow us to propose possible axial ligands in MCR(red1). The availability of model compounds for MCR(red1) and MCR(ox1) also is discussed.

The Role of the Distal and Proximal Protein Environments in Controlling the Ferric Spin State and in Stabilizing Thiolate Ligation in Heme Systems: Thiolate Adducts of the Myoglobin H93G Cavity Mutant

Recently, heme protein cavity mutants have been engineered in which the proximal coordinating amino acid has been replaced by a smaller, noncoordinating residue leaving a cavity that can be filled by exogenous axial ligands. This approach was pioneered by Barrick (Biochemistry 1994, 33, 6546−6554) with H93G sperm whale myoglobin where the coordinating histidine is replaced by glycine and the proximal cavity is filled with imidazole. In the present study, models for cysteine thiolate-ligated ferric cytochrome P450 have been prepared using H93G myoglobin containing thiolate ligands in the cavity. Despite the availability of water to serve as a distal ligand as occurs in both ferric wild type myoglobin and ferric H93G myoglobin with imidazole in the cavity, the ferric H93G thiolate complexes spectroscopically resemble five-coordinate high-spin substrate-bound ferric P450, which contains a thiolate proximal ligand and lacks a water distal ligand. Thus, the distal protein environment plays a crucial role in controlling whether a five-coordinate thiolate-ligated ferric heme binds water or not. Two advantages pertain to the present thiolate-ligated heme protein model relative to purely synthetic thiolate-ligated ferric porphyrins: (a) aliphatic thiols can form complexes without reduction of the ferric iron and (b) mixed ligand complexes that are stable at ambient temperatures can be prepared with a neutral ligand such as imidazole trans to thiolate. However, when anionic ligands are added to the ferric thiolate adduct in an attempt to prepare mixed ligand complexes with two anionic ligands, the thiolate ligand is displaced (or lost) without formation of a stable mixed ligand derivative. Further, reduction of the ferric-thiolate complex leads to loss of the thiolate ligand even in the presence of CO. The data presented for the thiolate adducts of ferric H93G myoglobin are analyzed in the context of the spectrally related H93C myoglobin mutants. The inability of the thiolate adducts of H93G myoglobin to accommodate a second anionic ligand in the ferric state or to remain thiolate-ligated in the ferrous state is likely due to the lack of (a) correctly positioned hydrogen bond donating groups and (b) a properly oriented helix dipole to stabilize the thiolate ligand as occurs in the proximal protein environment of P450. The present results illustrate the important role of the distal and proximal heme environments in controlling the ferric spin state and in stabilizing thiolate ligation in heme systems, respectively.

Unligated dirhodium tetra(trifluoroacetate): preparation, crystal structure and electronic structure

The title compound, Rh 2(O 2CCF 3) 4, without any exogenous axial ligands, has been obtained in crystalline form by sublimation. Its crystal structure has been determined: space group P 1 with α = 5.2499(5), b = 8.491(2), c = 9.172(2) A ̊ , α = 88.80(2), β = 88.53(1), γ = 76.43(1)°, V = 397.3(1) A ̊ 3, Z = 1 . The molecules are linked by axially ligating each other to form infinite chains. The Rh-Rh distance is 2.3813 (8) Å. The volatility of Rh 2(O 2CCF 3) 4 should allow spectrospcopic study of the isolated molecules and therefore the electronic structure has been treated by the SCF-Xα-SW method. The level ordering and composition show significant differences from those of Rh 2(O 2CH) 2, although in both molecules there is a strong Rh-Rh σ bond. Ionizatio potential have been estimated by the transition state method.