Electron transfer, binuclear systems

H2 or O2 from water in the presence of a sacrificial reductant or oxidant employ a mthenium complex, typically [Ru(bipy)2], as the photon absorber (96,97). A series of mixed binuclear mthenium complexes having a variety of bridging ligands have been the subject of numerous studies into the nature of bimolecular electron-transfer reactions and have been extensively reviewed (99—102). The first example of this system, reported in 1969 (103), is the Creutz-Taube complex [35599-57-6] [Ru2(pyz)(NH3. 

Electron-Transfer in Simple Binuclear Complexes. In trying to understand the electron transfer mediation effects of peptide bonds and amino acid side chains on rates of electron transfer in simple systems that are amenable to detailed investigation, we have designed and synthesized a series of complexes which contain within a single molecule two different oxidizing agents —both of which are inert to substitution. The series of complexes we have synthesized is represented schematically by the general structure 1. 

The oxidative degradations of binuclear azaarenes (quinoline, isoquinoline, and benzodrazines) by hydroxyl and sulfate radicals and halogen radicals have been studied under both photochemical and dark-reaction conditions. A shift from oxidation of the benzene moiety to the pyridine moiety was observed in the quinoline and isoquinoline systems upon changing the reaction from the dark to photochemical conditions. The results were interpreted using frontier-orbital calculations. The reaction of OH with the dye 3,3,6,6-tetramethyl-3,4,6,7,9,10-hexahydro-(l,8)(2//,5//)-acridinedione has been studied, and the transient absorption bands assigned in neutral solution.The redox potential (and also the pA a of the transient species) was determined. Hydroxyl radicals have been found to react with thioanisole via both electron transfer to give radical cations (73%) and OH-adduct formation (23%). The bimolec-ular rate constant was determined (3.5 x lO lmoU s ). " ... 

Redox substitution reactions can be photoinitiated. Taube first proposed that the photo-catalyzed substitution of PtCll- occurs by an electron-transfer process (equation 560) to give a kinetically labile platinum(III) intermediate.2040 Further work on this system has shown that the exchange occurs with quantum yields up to 1000,2041-2043 and the intermediate has beer assigned a lifetime in the fis range.2044 Recently the binuclear platinum(III) complexes Pt2(P2OsH2)4Xr (X = Cl, Br, I) have been found to show similar behavior and both photoreduction and complementary redox reactions are again proposed to explain the substitution behavior.1500... 

As a rule, however, the distance between the donor and the acceptor in such binuclear bridge metallocomplexes is not large. Only a few molecules of this type are known in which the electron transfer occurs over considerable distances, comparable with those for electron transfer between randomly arranged centres in vitreous matrices. Consider the results of research on electron tunneling over large distances in bridge systems. 

Figure 2-4. A simplified scheme of the proposed water-gated mechanism of proton translocation. Each numbered state shows haem a and the binuclear site (left and right rectangles, respectively) the A-propionate of haem is shown schematically. Three water molecules (oxygen in red hydrogen in yellow) are shown to mediate Grotthuss proton transfer from the glutamic acid (GLU-OH) to the propionate or the binuclear site, respectively. In state 1, an electron is transferred to haem a. The formed electric field between the redox sites orientates the water molecules towards the propionate (state 2). In state 3, electron transfer to the binuclear site is accompanied by proton transfer via the propionate a proton is deposited above haem and the glutamate is reprotonated via the D-pathway (state 4). The switch of electric field orientation reorientates the water array towards the binuclear site (state 5). Finally, a proton is transferred to this site, and the first proton is ejected (state 6). Reprotonation of the glutamate transfers the system back to state 1. For details, see the text and ref. 17.

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) is the terminal enzyme in the respiratory system of most aerobic organisms and catalyzes the four electron transfer from c-type cytochromes to dioxygen (115, 116). The A-type COX enzyme has three different redox-active metal centers A mixed-valence copper pair forming the so-called Cua center, a low-spin heme-a site, and a binuclear center formed by heme-fl3 and Cub. The Cua functions as the primary electron acceptor, from which electrons are transferred via heme-a to the heme-fl3/CuB center, where O2 is reduced to water. In the B-type COX heme-u is replaced by a heme-fo center. The intramolecular electron-transfer reactions are coupled to proton translocation across the membrane in which the enzyme resides (117-123) by a mechanism that is under active investigation (119, 124—126). The resulting electrochemical proton gradient is used by ATP synthase to generate ATP. 

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