Cobalamins catalytic reduction

Cobalt complexes with square planar tetradentate ligands, including salen, cor-rin, and porphyrin types, all catalyse the reduction of alkyl bromides and iodides. Most preparative and mechanistic work with these reactions has used cobalamines, including vitamin-B,. A generalised catalytic cycle is depicted in Scheme 4.10 [219]. At potentials around -0.9 V vs. see, the parent ligated Co(lll) compound un-... 

Other biomimetic reactions are based on the catalytic properties of metal ions. Many enzymes require metal ions that function, in one way or another, in oxidation-reduction processes. The wide range of such metal-ion reactions precludes mentioning more than a few in addition to the iron-porphyrin class, and in addition to chlorophyll, a number of enzymes require cobalamin as cofactor ferridoxin and high-potential iron proteins require iron-sulfur clusters, and nitrog-... 

Figure 21-3. The methionine synthase reaction. Methionine synthase catalyzes the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. In the first half reaction (1), a methyl group is transferred from 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) to the reduced form of cobalamin [Cob(I)], generating methyl-cobalamin [Methyl-Cob(III)] and tetrahydrofolate (THF). During the second half reaction (2), the methyl group is transferred from methylcobalamin to homocysteine, generating methionine. During the catalytic reaction, Cob(I) occasionally becomes oxidized, producing an inactive form of cobalamin, cob(II)alamin [Cob(II)]. The enzyme methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) then reactivates Cob(II) through reductive methylation, producing methyl-Cob(III). SAM, 5-adenosylmethionine SAH, 5-adeno-sylhomocysteine.

The half-wave potential for the enzyme-bound Co VCo cobalamin couple of the methionine synthase from E. coli at 526 mV versus SHE is about 80 mV lower than that of the Co /Cokcobalamin couple in neutral aqueous solution. Access to the catalytic cycle of the enzyme by one-electron reduction of Co kcobalamin (and reactivation upon occasional adventitious formation of Co -cobalamin) is indicated to be accomplished by a unique mechanism. The (thermodynamically unfavorable) reduction with intermediate formation of the enzyme-bound Cokcobalamin is driven by a rapid methylation of the highly reduced Co -center of the reduced corrin with Y-adenosyhnethionine. The modular nature of methionine synthase allows for the control of the methyl-group transfer processes by modulating and alternating conformational equilibria. ... 

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