Electron transfer kinetics, internal

M. Fabian and co-workers have studied the protein s role in internal electron transfer to the catalytic center of cytochrome c oxidase using stopped-flow kinetics. Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase, CcO, an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of ferrocytochrome c by dioxygen, is discussed more fully in Section 7.8. In the overall process, O2 is reduced to water, requiring the addition of four electrons and four protons to the enzyme s catalytic center. Electrons enter CcO from the cytosolic side, while protons enter from the matrix side of the inner mitochondrial membrane. This redox reaction. 

Xanthine Oxidase. This molybdoenzyme is readily available from cows milk in gram quantities (28) and is relatively stable, which accounts for the fact that it is by far the most intensively studied molybdoenzyme. Bray and Swann (5) have reviewed comprehensively the earlier literature, and recent papers by Olson et al. (20) summarize combined kinetic and thermodynamic approaches to the states of the prosthetic groups during catalysis. Two molybdenum, four iron-sulfur centers, and two FAD groups are present in each molecule. An important point raised by Edmondson, et al. (29) is that the rates of internal electron transfer among the prosthetic groups appear to be much more rapid than turnover. Olson et al., (20) deduced that the reduction potentials of the two processes Mo(VI) <— Mo(V) <— Mo(IV) were —60 and —31 mv, respectively, relative to the redox potential for one of the iron-sulfur centers (center II) in the molecule. Thus, at equilibrium one can never have more than a small fraction of molybdenum as... 

More recently, the internal energy distribution in neutral intermediates was studied using kinetic isotope effects on neutral dissociations [27-30]. It was shown that the internal energy distribution of the ground-electronic state of a neutral intermediate formed by endothermic electron transfer can be expressed by the function shown in Eq. (5) ... 

The current in a PEVD process reveals the kinetics of the PEVD cathode reactions which, in turn, indicates the PEVD product growth behavior. Since the electronic transference number in Na+-P -alumina is less than 10" and can be ignored under the current experimental conditions, it is reasonable to assume that the only current passing through the internal circuit of the PEVD system is the sodium ionic current. 

The macromolecular silyl chloride reacts with sodium in a two-electron-transfer reaction to form macromolecular silyl anion. The two-electron-trans-fer process consists of two (or three) discrete steps formation of radical anion, precipitation of sodium chloride and generation of the macromolecular silyl radical (whose presence was proved by trapping experiments), and the very rapid second electron transfer, that is, reduction to the macromolecular silyl anion. Some preliminary kinetic results indicate that the monomer is consumed with an internal first-order-reaction rate. This result supports the theory that a monomer participates in the rate-limiting step. Thus, the slowest step should be a nucleophilic displacement at a monomer by macromolecular silyl anion. This anion will react faster with the more electrophilic dichlorosilane than with a macromolecular silyl chloride. Therefore, polymerization would resemble a chain growth process with a slow initiation step and a rapid multistep propagation (the first and rate-limiting step is the reaction of an anion with degree of polymerization n[DP ] to form macromolecular silyl chloride [DP +J, and the chloride is reduced subsequently to the anion). 

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