NRVS investigation of ascorbate peroxidase compound II: Observation of Iron(IV)oxo stretching.

The protonation state of ascorbate peroxidase compound II (APX-II) has been a subject of debate. A combined X-ray/neutron crystallographic study reported that APX-II is best described as an iron(IV)hydroxide species with an FeO distance of 1.88 Å (Kwon, et al. Nat Commun2016, 7, 13,445), while X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments (utilizing extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and pre-edge analyses) indicate APX-II is an authentic iron(IV)oxo species with an FeO distance 1.68 Å (Ledray, et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society2020,142, 20,419). Previous debates concerning ferryl protonation states have been resolved through the application of Badger's rule, which correlates FeO bond distances with FeO vibrational frequencies. To obtain the required vibrational data, we have collected Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy (NRVS) data for APX-II. We observe a broad vibrational feature in the range associated with iron(IV)oxo stretching (700-800 cm-1). This feature appears to have two peaks at 732 cm-1 and 770 cm-1, corresponding to FeO distances of 1.69 and 1.67 Å, respectively. The broad vibrational envelope and the presence of multiple resonances could reflect a distribution of hydrogen bonding interactions within the active-site pocket.

Elucidation of Factors That Govern the 2e-/2H+ vs 4e-/4H+ Selectivity of Water Oxidation by a Cobalt Corrole.

Considering the importance of water splitting as the best solution for clean and renewable energy, the worldwide efforts for development of increasingly active molecular water oxidation catalysts must be accompanied by studies that focus on elucidating the mode of actions and catalytic pathways. One crucial challenge remains the elucidation of the factors that determine the selectivity of water oxidation by the desired 4e-/4H+ pathway that leads to O2 rather than by 2e-/2H+ to H2O2. We now show that water oxidation with the cobalt-corrole CoBr8 as electrocatalyst affords H2O2 as the main product in homogeneous solutions, while heterogeneous water oxidation by the same catalyst leads exclusively to oxygen. Experimental and computation-based investigations of the species formed during the process uncover the formation of a Co(III)-superoxide intermediate and its preceding high-valent Co-oxyl complex. The competition between the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of Co(III)-hydroperoxide [Co(III)-OOH]- to release H2O2 and the electrochemical oxidation of the same to release O2 via [Co(III)-O2•]- is identified as the key step determining the selectivity of water oxidation.

Ascorbate Peroxidase Compound II Is an Iron(IV) Oxo Species.

The protonation state of the iron(IV) oxo (or ferryl) form of ascorbate peroxidase compound II (APX-II) is a subject of debate. It has been reported that this intermediate is best described as an iron(IV) hydroxide species. Neutron diffraction data obtained from putative APX-II crystals indicate a protonated oxygenic ligand at 1.88 Å from the heme iron. This finding, if correct, would be unprecedented. A basic iron(IV) oxo species has yet to be spectroscopically observed in a histidine-ligated heme enzyme. The importance of ferryl basicity lies in its connection to our fundamental understanding of C-H bond activation. Basic ferryl species have been proposed to facilitate the oxidation of inert C-H bonds, reactions that are unknown for histidine-ligated hemes enzymes. To provide further insight into the protonation status of APX-II, we examined the intermediate using a combination of Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopies. Our data indicate that APX-II is an iron(IV) oxo species with an Fe-O bond distance of 1.68 Å, a K-edge pre-edge absorption of 18 units, and Mössbauer parameters of ΔEq = 1.65 mm/s and δ = 0.03 mm/s.

Effects of Noncovalent Interactions on High-Spin Fe(IV)-Oxido Complexes.

High-valent nonheme FeIV-oxido species are key intermediates in biological oxidation, and their properties are proposed to be influenced by the unique microenvironments present in protein active sites. Microenvironments are regulated by noncovalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) and electrostatic interactions; however, there is little quantitative information about how these interactions affect crucial properties of high valent metal-oxido complexes. To address this knowledge gap, we introduced a series of FeIV-oxido complexes that have the same S = 2 spin ground state as those found in nature and then systematically probed the effects of noncovalent interactions on their electronic, structural, and vibrational properties. The key design feature that provides access to these complexes is the new tripodal ligand [poat]3-, which contains phosphinic amido groups. An important structural aspect of [FeIVpoat(O)]- is the inclusion of an auxiliary site capable of binding a Lewis acid (LAII); we used this unique feature to further modulate the electrostatic environment around the Fe-oxido unit. Experimentally, studies confirmed that H-bonds and LAII s can interact directly with the oxido ligand in FeIV-oxido complexes, which weakens the Fe═O bond and has an impact on the electronic structure. We found that relatively large vibrational changes in the Fe-oxido unit correlate with small structural changes that could be difficult to measure, especially within a protein active site. Our work demonstrates the important role of noncovalent interactions on the properties of metal complexes, and that these interactions need to be considered when developing effective oxidants.

Artificial Iron Proteins: Modeling the Active Sites in Non-Heme Dioxygenases.

An important class of non-heme dioxygenases contains a conserved Fe binding site that consists of a 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad. Results from structural biology show that, in the resting state, these proteins are six-coordinate with aqua ligands occupying the remaining three coordination sites. We have utilized biotin-streptavidin (Sav) technology to design new artificial Fe proteins (ArMs) that have many of the same structural features found within active sites of these non-heme dioxygenases. An Sav variant was isolated that contains the S112E mutation, which installed a carboxylate side chain in the appropriate position to bind to a synthetic FeII complex confined within Sav. Structural studies using X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods revealed a facial triad binding site that is composed of two N donors from the biotinylated ligand and the monodentate coordination of the carboxylate from S112E. Two aqua ligands complete the primary coordination sphere of the FeII center with both involved in hydrogen bond networks within Sav. The corresponding FeIII protein was also prepared and structurally characterized to show a six-coordinate complex with two exogenous acetato ligands. The FeIII protein was further shown to bind an exogenous azido ligand through replacement of one acetato ligand. Spectroscopic studies of the ArMs in solution support the results found by XRD.

Reduction Potentials of P450 Compounds I and II: Insight into the Thermodynamics of C-H Bond Activation.

We present a mixed experimental/theoretical determination of the bond strengths and redox potentials that define the ground-state thermodynamics for C-H bond activation in cytochrome P450 catalysis. Using redox titrations with [Ir(IV)Cl6]2-, we have determined the compound II/ferric (or Fe(IV)OH/Fe(III)OH2) couple and its associated D(O-H)Ferric bond strength in CYP158. Knowledge of this potential as well as the compound II/ferric (or Fe(IV)O/Fe(III)OH) reduction potential in horseradish peroxidase and the two-electron compound I/ferric (or Fe(IV)O(Por•)/Fe(III)OH2(Por)) reduction potential in aromatic peroxidase has allowed us to gauge the accuracy of theoretically determined bond strengths. Using the restricted open shell (ROS) method as proposed by Wright and co-workers, we have obtained O-H bond strengths and associated redox potentials for charge-neutral H-atom reductions of these iron(IV)-hydroxo and -oxo porphyrin species that are within 1 kcal/mol of experimentally determined values, suggesting that the ROS method may provide accurate values for the P450-II O-H bond strength and P450-I reduction potential. The efforts detailed here indicate that the ground-state thermodynamics of C-H bond activation in P450 are best described as follows: E0'Comp-I = 1.22 V (at pH 7, vs NHE) with D(O-H)Comp-II = 95 kcal/mol and E0'Comp-II = 0.99 V (at pH 7, vs NHE) with D(O-H)Ferric = 90 kcal/mol.

Effect of hydrogen bonding on innocent and non-innocent axial ligands bound to iron porphyrins.

Most known heme enzymes utilize hydrogen bonding interactions in their active sites to control electronic and geometric structures and the ensuing reactivity. The details of these weak 2nd sphere interactions are slowly unravelling through spectroscopic and theoretical investigations in addition to biochemical studies. In synthetic Fe porphyrins, nature of hydrogen bonding by iron bound hydroxide ligand (H bond acceptor or donor) is found to alter the spin state of Fe in a series of iron hydroxide complexes. In this study, a series of Fe porphyrins having a triazole ring appended in the distal site of the porphyrin macrocycle were synthesized. The triazole rings were substituted to systematically alter their electron densities, which tune their H bonding to water molecules trapped inside the distal cavity, and in turn H bonds to the axial ligands bound to the iron porphyrin. Resonance Raman data indicated that the metal ligand bond strength changes with the change in substituents on triazole rings for innocent ligands like hydroxide, as well as non-innocent ligands like oxygen, albeit the mechanisms by which hydrogen bonding affects these are very different. Additionally, H bonding interaction was also found to alter the pKa of ferric hydroxide complexes.

Mechanism of Reduction of Ferric Porphyrins by Sulfide: Identification of a Low Spin FeIII-SH Intermediate.

The reaction of FeIII porphyrin complexes bearing distal hydrogen bonding residues with sulfide/hydrosulfide is kinetically monitored to reveal the presence of an intermediate and a kH/kD of 3.0. This intermediate is trapped at low temperatures and investigated with resonance Raman and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results, corroborated by density functional theory calculations, indicate that this species is a six-coordinate low spin hydrosulfide bound ferric porphyrin. The homolytic cleavage of the FeIII-SH bond resulting in the formation of a ferrous porphyrin and hydrosulfide radical (trapped with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrrilone-N-oxide) is found to be the overall rate-determining step of the reaction.

Dioxygen bound cobalt corroles.

Two cobalt-dioxygen adducts, [CoH8]-O2 and [CoCl8]-O2, chelated by electron-rich and electron-poor corroles, respectively, were isolated in solution. Characterization by resonance Raman (rR) and EPR spectroscopy, together with DFT analyses, point towards (corrole) cobalt(iii)-O2˙- structures in both cases. The most significant insight was obtained from the Co-O and O-O stretching frequencies, which revealed that the Co-O bond in [CoH8]-O2 is somewhat stronger than in [CoCl8]-O2 and its O-O is weaker, but also that the differences are truly minute (8-10 cm-1 for the O-O stretch). These conclusions are vital regarding the various applications that rely on efficient reduction of molecular oxygen. In particular, these kinds of cobalt complexes are perfectly suited for serving as electrocatalysts that may be tuned to operate at minimal overpotential without losing almost anything in terms of activity.

Iron porphyrins with a hydrogen bonding cavity: effect of weak interactions on their electronic structure and reactivity.

The electronic structure and reactivity of iron porphyrin complexes bearing 2nd sphere hydrogen bonding residues have been investigated over the last few years. The presence of these weak interactions alters the spin ground state, and axial ligand bonding and provides a proton translocation pathway into the active site. Mechanistic investigations in organic as well as aqueous media demonstrate how controlled delivery of protons is fundamental in dictating the selectivity of a multi-electron multi-proton process like the reduction of dioxygen to water.

Second sphere control of spin state: Differential tuning of axial ligand bonds in ferric porphyrin complexes by hydrogen bonding.

An iron porphyrin with a pre-organized hydrogen bonding (H-Bonding) distal architecture is utilized to avoid the inherent loss of entropy associated with H-Bonding from solvent (water) and mimic the behavior of metallo-enzyme active sites attributed to H-Bonding interactions of active site with the 2nd sphere residues. Resonance Raman (rR) data on these iron porphyrin complexes indicate that H-Bonding to an axial ligand like hydroxide can result in both stronger or weaker Fe(III)-OH bond relative to iron porphyrin complexes. The 6-coordinate (6C) complexes bearing water derived axial ligands, trans to imidazole or thiolate axial ligand with H-Bonding stabilize a low spin (LS) ground state (GS) when a complex without H-Bonding stabilizes a high spin (HS) ground state. DFT calculations reproduce the trend in the experimental data and provide a mechanism of how H-Bonding can indeed lead to stronger metal ligand bonds when the axial ligand donates an H-Bond and lead to weaker metal ligand bonds when the axial ligand accepts an H-Bond. The experimental and computational results explain how a weak Fe(III)-OH bond (due to H-Bonding) can lead to the stabilization of low spin ground state in synthetic mimics and in enzymes containing iron porphyrin active sites. H-Bonding to a water ligand bound to a reduced ferrous active site can only strengthen the Fe(II)-OH2 bond and thus exclusion of water and hydrophilic residues from distal sites of O2 binding/activating heme proteins is necessary to avoid inhibition of O2 binding by water. These results help demonstrate the predominant role played by H-Bonding and subtle changes in its orientation in determining the geometric and electronic structure of iron porphyrin based active sites in nature.

Effect of axial ligand, spin state, and hydrogen bonding on the inner-sphere reorganization energies of functional models of cytochrome P450.

Using a combination of self-assembly and synthesis, bioinspired electrodes having dilute iron porphyrin active sites bound to axial thiolate and imidazole axial ligands are created atop self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Resonance Raman data indicate that a picket fence architecture results in a high-spin (HS) ground state (GS) in these complexes and a hydrogen-bonding triazole architecture results in a low-spin (LS) ground state. The reorganization energies (λ) of these thiolate- and imidazole-bound iron porphyrin sites for both HS and LS states are experimentally determined. The λ of 5C HS imidazole and thiolate-bound iron porphyrin active sites are 10-16 kJ/mol, which are lower than their 6C LS counterparts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce these data and indicate that the presence of significant electronic relaxation from the ligand system lowers the geometric relaxation and results in very low λ in these 5C HS active sites. These calculations indicate that loss of one-half a π bond during redox in a LS thiolate bound active site is responsible for its higher λ relative to a σ-donor ligand-like imidazole. Hydrogen bonding to the axial ligand leads to a significant increase in λ irrespective of the spin state of the iron center. The results suggest that while the hydrogen bonding to the thiolate in the 5C HS thiolate bound active site of cytochrome P450 (cyp450) shifts the potential up, resulting in a negative ΔG, it also increases λ resulting in an overall low barrier for the electron transfer process.

Spectroscopic characterization of a phenolate bound Fe(II)-O2 adduct: gauging the relative "push" effect of a phenolate axial ligand.

Dioxygen adducts of solvent, imidazole and phenolate bound iron porphyrin complexes are reported. The data show that the Fe-O vibration of the Fe-O2 species shifts from 584 cm(-1) to 570 cm(-1) as neutral axial ligands are replaced by the anionic phenolate ligand.

Selective 4e-/4H+ O2 reduction by an iron(tetraferrocenyl)porphyrin complex: from proton transfer followed by electron transfer in organic solvent to proton coupled electron transfer in aqueous medium.

An iron porphyrin catalyst bearing four ferrocenes and a hydrogen bonding distal pocket is found to catalyze 4e(-)/4H(+) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in organic solvent under homogeneous conditions in the presence of 2-3 equiv of Trifluoromethanesulphonic acid. Absorption spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and resonance Raman data along with H2O2 assay indicate that one out of the four electrons necessary to reduce O2 to H2O is donated by the ferrous porphyrin while three are donated by the distal ferrocene residues. The same catalyst shows 4e(-)/4H(+) reduction of O2 in an aqueous medium, under heterogeneous conditions, over a wide range of pH. Both the selectivity and the rate of ORR are found to be pH independent in an aqueous medium. The ORR proceeds via a proton transfer followed by electron transfer (PET) step in an organic medium and while a 2e(-)/1H(+) proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) step determines the electrochemical potential of ORR in an aqueous medium.

Analogues of oxy-heme Aß: reactive intermediates relevant to Alzheimer's disease.

Redox active metals (Fe and Cu) and cofactors (heme) bind to Aß peptides and react with O(2) in their reduced state leading to oxidative stress in the brain. In this study we cryogenically trap and characterize a Fe-O(2) intermediate, using resonance Raman spectroscopy, involved in reactive oxygen species formation by Aß peptides. This is the first reaction intermediate relevant to Alzheimer's disease to be reported.

Second sphere control of redox catalysis: selective reduction of O2 to O2- or H2O by an iron porphyrin catalyst.

"Click" reaction has been utilized to synthesize porphyrin ligands possessing distal superstructures functionalized with ferrocenes, carboxylic acid esters, and phenols. Both structural and spectroscopic evidence indicate that hydrogen bonding interaction between the triazole residues resulting from the "click" reaction promotes axial ligand binding into the sterically demanding distal pocket in preference to the open proximal side. An iron porphyrin complex with four ferrocene groups is found to bind O(2) and quantitatively reduce it by one electron to O(2)(-) in apolar organic solvents. However the same complex electro-catalytically reduces O(2) by four electrons to H(2)O in aqueous medium under fast, moderate, and slow electron fluxes. This selectivity for O(2) reduction is governed by the reduction potential of the electron transfer site (i.e., ferrocene) which in turn is governed by the solvent. This catalyst mimics control of catalysis of an enzyme active site by a second sphere electron transfer residue which is often encountered in naturally occurring metallo-enzymes.

A hydrogen bond scaffold supported synthetic heme Fe(III)-O2(-) adduct.

A hydrogen bonded heme-Fe(III)-O(2)(-) adduct is stabilized and characterized using resonance Raman and EPR spectroscopy. The low O-O vibrations of this complex are quite different from those reported for other heme-Fe(III)-O(2)(-) adducts.

Selective four electron reduction of O2 by an iron porphyrin electrocatalyst under fast and slow electron fluxes.

An iron porphyrin catalyst with four electron donor groups is reported. The porphyrin ligand bears a distal hydrogen bonding pocket which inverts the normal axial ligand binding selectivity exhibited by porphyrins bearing sterically crowded distal structures. This catalyst specifically reduces O(2) by four electrons under both fast and slow electron fluxes at pH 7.