Dinuclear site studies

An additional crucial piece of information emerges from the alloxan-thine study (24). Thus, it was shown that one alloxanthine binds to the enzyme per active molybdenum site. This result clearly implies that the molybdenum site is mononuclear. If a dinuclear site were involved, then it would be unlikely to require two alloxanthine molecules for inhibition and would be expected to be at least partially inhibited with one alloxan-thine/two molybdenum. Also, a difference in binding constant would be expected for the second compared with the first bound alloxanthine, but none is found. This result, coupled with the lack of evidence for Mo(V)-Mo(V) spin-spin interactions in the EPR spectra, clearly implicates a mononuclear site, and it would seem that xanthine oxidase possesses two full catalytic units, each containing one molybdenum, one flavin, and two Fe2S2 units (20). Other molybdenum oxidases also contain paired prosthetic groups and subunits, and it is likely that they each have two catalytic units per molecule. 

Hemerythrin, being the best characterized of the group, is the prototype of this class of proteins (5,6). The circulatory protein consists of oligomers of an 17 kDa subunit that contains the dinuclear site. The number of subunits that constitute the holoprotein varies from 3 to 8 among the species studied (6). A monomeric form, myohemerythrin, which has been isolated from muscle tissue (18), is presumably related to hemerythrin in its function just as myoglobin is to hemoglobin. 

The dinuclear active site of urease (1) has been studied in great detail23-29 and has inspired manifold model studies—hence a separate section, Section 6.3.4.12.7, is dedicated to the coordination chemistry related to urease. E. coli Glx I is the first example of a Ni-dependent isomerase and contains a single Ni11 ion coordinated by two histidines, two axial carboxylates of glutamic acid, and two water molecules (2).30-32 It is not active with Zn bound, which is believed to result from the inability of the Zn-substituted enzyme to bind a second aqua ligand and to adopt a six-coordinate structure. 

Nickel is found in thiolate/sulflde environment in the [NiFe]-hydrogenases and in CODH/ACS.33 In addition, either a mononuclear Ni-thiolate site or a dinuclear cysteine-S bridged structure are assumed plausible for the new class of Ni-containing superoxide dismutases, NiSOD (A).34 [NiFe]-hydrogenase catalyzes the two-electron redox chemistry of dihydrogen. Several crystal structures of [NiFe]-hydrogenases have demonstrated that the active site of the enzyme consists of a heterodinuclear Ni—Fe unit bound to thiolate sulfurs of cysteine residues with a Ni—Fe distance below 3 A (4) 35-39 This heterodinuclear active site has been the target of extensive model studies, which are summarized in Section 6.3.4.12.5. 

In order to evaluate the individual properties as qubit of each Ln(III) ion within the pertinent [Ln2] complexes, it is necessary to study each ion without the interference of the other. This could be done if it were possible to prepare dinuclear complexes containing the l.n(III) to be studied in the desired position accompanied by a diamagnetic Ln(III) centre (or analogue) at the other site. This was possible thanks to the exceptional structural characteristics of the [Ln2] family. 

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