Copper monooxygenase, model

III.B.1. A Xylyl-Containing Copper Monooxygenase Model System... 

Figure 4. A copper monooxygenase model system, involving the dicopper-mediated hydroxylation of an arene.

Tyrosinase is a monooxygenase which catalyzes the incorporation of one oxygen atom from dioxygen into phenols and further oxidizes the catechols formed to o-quinones (oxidase action). A comparison of spectral (EPR, electronic absorption, CD, and resonance Raman) properties of oxy-tyrosinase and its derivatives with those of oxy-Hc establishes a close similarity of the active site structures in these proteins (26-29). Thus, it seems likely that there is a close relationship between the binding of dioxygen and the ability to "activate" it for reaction and incoiporation into organic substrates. Other important copper monooxygenases which are however of lesser relevance to the model studies discussed below include dopamine p-hydroxylase (16,30) and a recently described copper-dependent phenylalanine hydroxylase (31). 

Transition metal hydroperoxo species are well established as important intermediates in the oxidation of hydrocarbons (8,70,71). As they relate to the active oxygenating reagent in cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase, (porphyrin)M-OOR complexes have come under recent scmtiny because of their importance in the process of (poiphyrin)M=0 formation via 0-0 cleavage processes (72-74). In copper biochemistry, a hydroperoxo copper species has been hypothesized as an important intermediate in the catalytic reaction of the copper monooxygenase, dopamine P-hydroxylase (75,76). A Cu-OOH moiety has also been proposed to be involved in the disproportionation of superoxide mediated by the copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (77-78). Thus, model Cun-OOR complexes may be of... 

A Functional Model for Copper Monooxygenases and the NIH Shift Mechanism... 

Synthetic copper complexes which can activate dioxygen and hydroxylate aliphatic C-H bonds are of great importance, both for shedding light on common industrial processes which employ copper catalysts and also as models for the copper monooxygenases mentioned above, such as OPM, PAM, and pMMO. 

CHEMICAL MODELS FOR NONHEME IRON AND COPPER MONOOXYGENASES -... 

CHAPTER 8. Model Studies on Nonheme Monooxygenases - Chemical Models for Nonheme Iron and Copper Monooxygenases -... 

In light of the accepted mechanism for cytochrome P-450 (97-100), a superoxo-Cu(II) intermediate is further reduced, leading to dioxygen activation. Accordingly, a monomeric peroxo or hydroperoxo copper(II) complex serves as a synthetic model for these intermediates of copper-containing monooxygenases. However, no well-characterized complexes of these types are available to date. Formation of a monomeric hydroperoxo or acylperoxo complex was reported to occur when a trans-/u-l,2-peroxo complex, [(Cu(TPA))2(02)]z+, was treated with H+ or RC(O)+, but no details of the structures and properties of the complexes were provided (101). A related complex, a monomeric acylperoxo cop-per(II) complex, was synthesized (102). Low-temperature reaction of a dimeric copper(II) hydroxide complex, [Cu(HB(3,5-iPr2pz)3)]2(OH)2, with 2 equivalents of m-CPBA (3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid) yielded a monomeric acylperoxo complex whose structure was characterized by... 

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