Enzymes metal complex models

The first interest in the electroreduction of N02 or NO catalyzed by metal complexes is to model the activity of nitrite reductase enzymes.327 There is also an extensive growth in studies related to the development of metal complex-based electrochemical sensors for NO determination in biological and environmental samples 328 329 Nitrate disproportionates to nitric oxide and nitrate in aqueous solution. 

The present volume is the fourth in the series and covers the topics lithium in biology, the structure and function of ceruloplasmin, rhenium complexes in nuclear medicine, the anti-HIV activity of macrocyclic polyamines and their metal complexes, platinum anticancer dmgs, and functional model complexes for dinuclear phosphoesterase enzymes. The production of this volume has been overshadowed by a very sad event—the passing away of the senior editor, Professor Robert W. Hay. It was he who conceived the idea of producing this series and who more than anyone else has been responsible for its continuation. A tribute by one of his many friends, Dr. David Richens, is included in this Volume. 

As the above discussion indicates, assigning mechanisms to simple anation reactions of transition metal complexes is not simple. The situation becomes even more difficult for a complex enzyme system containing a metal cofactor at an active site. Methods developed to study the kinetics of enzymatic reactions according to the Michaelis-Menten model will be discussed in Section 2.2.4. 

The Schiff base can undergo a variety of reactions in addition to transamination, shown in Fig. 6.4 for example, racemization of the amino acid via the a-deprotonated intermediate. Many of these reactions are catalyzed by metal ions and each has its equivalent nonmetallic enzyme reaction, each enzyme containing pyridoxal phosphate as a coenzyme. Many ideas of the mechanism of the action of these enzymes are based on the behavior of the model metal complexes. 

Carboxypeptidase A was the first zinc enzyme to yield a three-dimensional structure to the X-ray crystallographic method, and the structure of an enzyme-pseudosubstrate complex provided a model for a precatalytic zinc-carbonyl interaction (Lipscomb etai, 1968). Comparative studies have been performed between carboxypeptidase A and thermolysin based on the results of X-ray crystallographic experiments (Argosetai, 1978 Kesterand Matthews, 1977 Monzingoand Matthews, 1984 Matthews, 1988 Christianson and Lipscomb, 1988b). Models of peptide-metal interaction have recently been utilized in studies of metal ion participation in hydrolysis (see e.g., Schepartz and Breslow, 1987). In these examples a dipole-ion interaction is achieved by virtue of a chelate interaction involving the labile carbonyl and some other Lewis base (e.g.. 

Molecular modelling of transition metal complexes (TMC), reproducing characteristic features of their stereochemistry and electronic structure, is in high demand in relation with studies and development of various processes of complex formation with an accent on ion extraction, ion exchange, isotope separation, neutralization of nuclear waste, and also when studying structure and reactivity of metal-containing enzymes. Solving these techno-... 

Kopf, M.-A. Karlin, K. D. Models of copper enzymes and heme-copper oxidases, Biomimetic Oxidations Catalyzed by Transition Metal Complexes , Ed. Meunier, B. Imperial College Press London, 2000, pp. 309—362. 

The present volume is a non-thematic issue and includes seven contributions. The first chapter byAndreja Bakac presents a detailed account of the activation of dioxygen by transition metal complexes and the important role of atom transfer and free radical chemistry in aqueous solution. The second contribution comes from Jose Olabe, an expert in the field of pentacyanoferrate complexes, in which he describes the redox reactivity of coordinated ligands in such complexes. The third chapter deals with the activation of carbon dioxide and carbonato complexes as models for carbonic anhydrase, and comes from Anadi Dash and collaborators. This is followed by a contribution from Sasha Ryabov on the transition metal chemistry of glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase and related enzymes. In chapter five Alexandra Masarwa and Dan Meyerstein present a detailed report on the properties of transition metal complexes containing metal-carbon bonds in aqueous solution. Ivana Ivanovic and Katarina Andjelkovic describe the importance of hepta-coordination in complexes of 3d transition metals in the subsequent contribution. The final chapter by Sally Brooker and co-workers is devoted to the application of lanthanide complexes as luminescent biolabels, an exciting new area of development. 

It is important to stress from the outset that these metal complexes do not aim to model the complicated polypeptide environment of the active site in the enzyme but are designed to keep the system as simple as possible so that the chemistry associated with binding and activation of N2 can be defined in detail. The study on N2 complexes does not elaborate just the pathway that the enzyme adopts to convert N2 to NH3, but a wide variety of conceivable routes that are available. The role of the chemist is in part to delineate all of the possible pathways by which N2 can be converted through to NH3. It is just as important to understand the pathways that the enzyme does not use as it is to know the route it does adopt if we are to appreciate fully the mechanism of the nitrogenases. 

In discussing the appearence of diastereoselectivity in natural systems, the rule of three-point contact is frequently used11). This rule implies that a prochiral substrate becomes a chiral one, when it is fixed on three nonidentical points on the enzyme system. On the other hand, the well-known lock-key model is mainly based on a specific spacial arrangement and does not take into account specific types of bonding to the matrix12). For a discussion of diastereoselectivity in reactions with metal complexes, it seems more appropriate to use such a lock-key model. 

Enantioselective formation of the C-C bond with participation of thiacrown metal complexes as enzyme models 92PAC413. 

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