Dioxygen activation, mechanism

Mimicking and understanding tyrosinase activity (o-hydroxylation of phenols) have been of longtime interest because this was one of the earliest copper monooxygenases described and the significance of elucidating dioxygen activation mechanism(s) has widespread implications and potential applications. 

Figure 19. Proposed dioxygen activation mechanism for the diiron sites in MMO and RRB2. In RRB2, the diiron site is responsible for the generation of the tyrosine radical. The diiron site of MMO oxidizes methane to methanol no evidence for the production of a tyrosine radical is seen in this system.

In this chapter, the dioxygen activation mechanism at the dinuclear copper-active sites of tyrosinase and catechol oxidase has been surveyed. In both enzymes, a (ji-rfirf -peToxo) dicopper(II) complex has been detected and characterized as a common reactive intermediate by several spectroscopic methods. In spite of longstanding efforts in the enzymological studies, mechanistic details of the enzymatic reactions (phenolase and catecholase activities) still remain ambiguous. On the other hand, recent developments in the model chemistry have provided a great deal of information about the structure and physicochemical properties as well as the reactivity of the peroxo intermediate and have advanced our understanding of the enzymatic reactions. 

The kinetic experiments were not performed under true catalytic conditions, i.e. the pre-prepared [FeL(DTBC)] complexes were introduced into the reaction mixtures as reactants and excess substrate was not used. Nevertheless, the results are important in exploring the intimate details of the activation mechanisms of the metal ion catalyzed autoxida-tion reactions of catechols. In excess oxygen the reaction was first-order in the complex concentration and the first-order dependence in dioxygen concentration was also confirmed with the BPG complex. As shown in Table II, the rate constants clearly correlate with the Lewis character of the complex, i.e. the rate of the oxidation reaction increases by increasing the Lewis acidity of the metal center. 

The enzymes of this type that have been characterized contain some type of redox-active cofactor, such as a flavin (3), or a metal ion (heme iron, non-heme iron, or copper), or both (4-6). Our understanding of the mechanism of these enzymes is most advanced in the case of the heme-containing enzyme cytochrome P450. But in spite of the availability of a crystal structure of an enzyme-substrate complex (7) and extensive information about related reactions of low molecular weight synthetic analogues of cytochrome P450 (8), a detailed picture of the molecular events that are referred to as "dioxygen activation" continues to elude us. 

Such reactions are interesting as models for oxygen atom transfer in mechanisms of dioxygen activation by cytochrome P450 enzyme systems (49, 50, 51). 

Whereas several transient species have been observed for dioxygen activation by MMOH, no intermediates were found by rapid-mixing spectroscopic methods for the actual methane hydroxylation step. Mechanistic probes, i.e. certain non-natural substrates that are transformed into rearranged products only if the reaction proceeds via a specific intermediate such as a radical or a cation, give ambivalent results Some studies show that products according to a pathway via cationic intermediates are obtained in sMMO hydroxylations and at least one study suggests the presence of a radical intermediate [40]. Computational analyses of the reaction of MMOHq with methane suggest a so-called radical recoil/rebound mechanism in which MMOHq... 

Homolytic catalysis is observed with both organometallic and coordination complexes. It is involved in a wide variety of metal-mediated transformations, often in competition with electrophilic or nucleophilic catalysis [11], For example, many metal-catalyzed oxidations involve substrate activation by homolytic catalysis (Eq. 5) [12], Similarly, oxidative additions (Eq. 6) and dioxygen activation (Eq. 7) can proceed via two-step homolytic mechanisms. 

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... 

A number of transition metals are now known147-156 to form stable dioxygen complexes, and many of these reactions are reversible. In the case of cobalt, numerous complexes have been shown to combine oxygen reversibly.157 158 Since cobalt compounds are also the most common catalysts for autoxidations, cobalt-oxygen complexes have often been implicated in chain initiation of liquid phase autoxidations. However, there is no unequivocal evidence for chain initiation of autoxidations via an oxygen activation mechanism. Theories are based on kinetic evidence alone, and many authors have failed to appreciate that conventional procedures for purifying substrate do not remove the last traces of alkyl hydroperoxides from many hydrocarbons. It is usually these trace amounts of alkyl hydroperoxide that are responsible for chain initiation during catalytic reaction with metal complexes. 

One of the most intriguing reactions in the chytochrome P450 catalysis is the transfer of second electron and dioxygen activation, which appears to be a key step of the entire process. The chemical nature of reactive oxidizing species appears in the coordination sphere of heme iron and the mechanism of hydroxylation of organic compounds, saturated hydrocarbons in particular, is a much debated question in the field of the cytochrome P450 catalysis. To solve this problem, an entire arsenal of modern experimental and theoretical methods are employed. The catalytic pathway of cytochrome P450cam from Pseudomonas putida obtained on the basis of X-ray analysis at atomic resolution is presented in Fig. 3.10. 

Proserpio, D.M., Rappe, A. K., and Gorun, S.M. (1993) Theoretical modeling of the mechanism of dioxygen activation and evolution by tetranuclear manganese complexes, Inorg. Chim. Acta 213, 319-24. 

Shteinman, A. A., 1995, The mechanism of methane and dioxygen activation in the catalytic cycle of methane monooxygenase, FEES Lett. 362 5n9. 

Rate acceleration is the most fimdamental aspect of catalysis. To elucidate the electronic mechanisms of spin-acceleration phenomena therefore represents an important topic in both bioinorganic and biomimetic dioxygen activation 5,122). Many other t5rpes of substrate transformations catalyzed by metal complexes or redox enzymes also involve key steps with a change in spin along their reaction coordinates. The abimdance of such phenomena seems to be much wider than initially thought. This... 

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