Intramolecular electron transfer, redox

We will use here the main results obtained for two complex and distinct situations the structural and spectroscopic information gathered for D. gigas [NiFe] hydrogenase and AOR, in order to discuss relevant aspects related to magnetic interaction between the redox centers, intramolecular electron transfer, and, finally, interaction with other redox partners in direct relation with intermolecular electron transfer and processing of substrates to products. 

The rate of degenerate intramolecular electron-transfer processes in biselectrophoric redox systems, and the observed spin-density distribution over one or two units depend upon the overall reorganization energy and thus upon... 

The model shown in Scheme 2 indicates that a change in the formal oxidation state of the metal is not necessarily required during the catalytic reaction. This raises a fundamental question. Does the metal ion have to possess specific redox properties in order to be an efficient catalyst A definite answer to this question cannot be given. Nevertheless, catalytic autoxidation reactions have been reported almost exclusively with metal ions which are susceptible to redox reactions under ambient conditions. This is a strong indication that intramolecular electron transfer occurs within the MS"+ and/or MS-O2 precursor complexes. Partial oxidation or reduction of the metal center obviously alters the electronic structure of the substrate and/or dioxygen. In a few cases, direct spectroscopic or other evidence was reported to prove such an internal charge transfer process. This electronic distortion is most likely necessary to activate the substrate and/or dioxygen before the actual electron transfer takes place. For a few systems where deviations from this pattern were found, the presence of trace amounts of catalytically active impurities are suspected to be the cause. In other words, the catalytic effect is due to the impurity and not to the bulk metal ion in these cases. 

Because of the precise control of the redox steps by means of the electrode potential and the facile measurement of the kinetics through the current, the electrochemical approach to. S rn I reactions is particularly well suited to assessing the validity of the. S rn I mechanism and identifying the side reactions (termination steps of the chain process). It also allows full kinetic characterization of the reaction sequence. The two key steps of the reaction are the cleavage of the initial anion radical, ArX -, and conversely, formation of the product anion radical, ArNu -. Modeling these reactions as concerted intramolecular electron transfer/bond-breaking and bond-forming processes, respectively, allows the establishment of reactivity-structure relationships as shown in Section 3.5. 

In applying this principle to proteins, one would ideally like to modify a protein at one specific site with a number of related, substitution-inert, inorganic redox reagents, and then study the intramolecular electron transfer step as a function of a wide variety of variables (e.g., the redox potential and hydrophobicity of the redox reagent). Such a study is extremely difficult to carry out with large proteins, and none has been reported thus far. We have, however, found out that horseheart cytochrome c is amenable to modification at a single site by the... 

Redox reactions usually lead, however, to a marked change in the species, as reactions 4-6 indicate. Important reactions involve the oxidation of organic and metalloprotein substrates (reactions 5 and 6) by oxidizing complex ions. Here the substrate often has ligand properties, and the first step in the overall process appears to be complex formation between the metal and substrate species. Redox reactions will often then be phenomenologically associated with substitution. After complex formation, the redox reaction can occur in a variety of ways, of which a direct intramolecular electron transfer within the adduct is the most obvious. 

Spectrophotometry has been a popular means of monitoring redox reactions, with increasing use being made of flow, pulse radiolytic and laser photolytic techniques. The majority of redox reactions, even those with involved stoichiometry, have seeond-order characteristics. There is also an important group of reactions in which first-order intramolecular electron transfer is involved. Less straightforward kinetics may arise with redox reactions that involve metal complex or radical intermediates, or multi-electron transfer, as in the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III). Reactants with different equivalences as in the noncomplementary reaction... 

Of course the Co CNHj) breaks down rapidly in acid into Co + and 5NHJ. Precursor complex formation, intramolecular electron transfer, or successor complex dissociation may severally be rate limiting. The associated reaction profiles are shown in Fig. 5.1. A variety of rate laws can arise from different rate-determining steps. A second-order rate law is common, but the second-order rate constant is probably composite. For example, (Fig. 5.1 (b)) if the observed redox rate constant is less than the substitution rate constant, as it is for many reactions of Cr +, Eu +, Cu+, Fe + and other ions, and if little precursor complex is formed, then = k k2kz ). In addition, the breakdown of the successor complex would have to be rapid k > k 2). This situation may even give rise to negative (= A//° +... 

Chromium(II) is a very effective and important reducing agent that has played a significant and historical role in the development of redox mechanisms (Chap. 5). It has a facile ability to take part in inner-sphere redox reactions (Prob. 9). The coordinated water of Cr(II) is easily replaced by the potential bridging group of the oxidant, and after intramolecular electron transfer, the Cr(III) carries the bridging group away with it and as it is an inert product, it can be easily identified. There have been many studies of the interaction of Cr(II) with Co(III) complexes (Tables 2.6 and 5.7) and with Cr(III) complexes (Table 5.8). Only a few reductions by Cr(II) are outer-sphere (Table 5.7). By contrast, Cr(edta) Ref. 69 and Cr(bpy)3 are very effective outer-sphere reductants (Table 5.7). 

The other simple peptide complex e.g. [Fe(Z-Cys-Ala-OMe)4]2- did not exhibit such a reversible redox couple under similar conditions. The Fe(lll) complexes of simple peptide thiolates or cysteine alkyl esters are found to be thermally quite unstable and decompose by oxidaticxi at the thiolate ligand by intramolecular electron transfer. Thus the macro-ring chelation of the Cys-Pro-Leu-Cys ligand appears to stabilize the Fe(in) state. The stability of the Fe(ni) form as indicated by the cyclic voltamnoogram measurements and by the visible spectra of the Fe(in) peptide complexes suggests that the peptide prevents thermal and hydrolytic decomposition of the Fe-S bond because of the hydrophobicity and steric bulk of the Pro and Leu residues (3,4). 

Another redox switchable system is based on dyad 21 in which 2-chloro-1,4-naphthoquinone is covalently attached to 5-dimethyl-aminonaphthalene via a non-conjugated spacer. The intrinsic fluorescence of the dansyl excited state in dyad 21 is strongly quenched, due to the intramolecular electron transfer from the excited dansyl to the adjacent quinone acceptor. However, the fluorescence can be switched on by addition of a reducing agent. Apart from chemical switching, the fluorescence of dyad 21 can also be switched electrochemically. This can be realized using a photoelec -trochemical cell, and the solution starts to fluoresce upon application of a reductive potential.31... 

It has been considered that the high stability of the dye in a DSSC system could be obtained by the presence of I - ions as the electron donor to dye cauons. Degradation of the NCS ligand to the CN ligand by a intramolecular electron-transfer reaction, which reduces consequently the Ru(III) state to the Ru(II) state, occurs within 0.1-1 sec [153], whereas the rate for the reduction of Ru(in) to Ru(II) by the direct electron transfer from I ions into the dye cations is on the order of nanoseconds [30]. This indicates that one molecule of N3 dye can contribute to the photon-to-current conversion process with a turnover number of at least 107—10s without any degradation [153]. Taking this into consideration, N3 dye is considered to be sufficiently stable in the redox electrolyte under irradiation. 

A variety of linkage isomer pairs have been produced from somewhat more complex ligands, such as substituted pyridines and benzoic acids, for example (5a) and (5b).77,78 These complexes have been employed in detailed studies of inner-sphere electron transfer reactions in order to assess the importance of the nature and orientation of the bridge between redox centres on intramolecular electron transfer rates.77-80... 

Pulse radiolysis studies on unsymmetrical, chemically linked organic systems have shown the expected fall off in rate constant as AG becomes more favorable.81 In these experiments, advantage is taken of the fact that capture of electrons produced by pulse radiolysis is relatively indiscriminate and in some of the pulse events an electron is captured by the component in the dimeric systems which is the weaker oxidant. Following such an event, the experimental observation made is of the system relaxing by intramolecular electron transfer to the stable redox configuration, as shown for (I)->(2) where A is one of a series of polyaromatic or quinone electron acceptors.81... 

A number of results are available for directly measured rates of intramolecular electron transfer in bridging systems based on (NH3)5Co111 dimers with -Ru NHajs. -Fe CNjj3- or -Run(edta)2- as the second redox partner.98 The ligand systems chosen for study have charac-... 

Fig. 10. Hypothetical reaction cycle for D. gigas hydrogenase, based on the EPR and redox properties of the nickel (Table II). Only the nickel center and one [4Fe-4S] cluster are shown. Step 1 enzyme, in the activated conformation and Ni(II) oxidation state, causes heterolytic cleavage of H2 to produce a Ni(II) hydride and a proton which might be associated with a ligand to the nickel or another base in the vicinity of the metal site. Step 2 intramolecular electron transfer to the iron-sulfur cluster produces a protonated Ni(I) site (giving the Ni-C signal). An alternative formulation of this species would be Ni(III) - H2. Step 3 reoxidation of the iron-sulfur cluster and release of a proton. Step 4 reoxidation of Ni and release of the other proton.

A detailed study of the effect of the medium and temperature on the intramolecular electron transfer rate constant kt in various metal complex systems of the bridge structure has been carried out [25]. The values of kt were found to increase and the activation energy to decrease with increasing polarity of the medium. These effects were accounted for in terms of the modern electron transfer theory (see the case Er > J in Fig. 5 of Chap. 3) by greater changes in the free energy, AG°, due to a higher redox potential of the L/Lr pairs in a more polar medium. 

A 77-acceptor (carbonyl, phenyl) assists the reaction via an intramolecular electron transfer to the leaving group. This intramolecular redox catalysis is well illustrated by com-... 

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