Intramolecular electron transfer, redox reactions

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. 

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). 

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... 

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 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-... 

From comparison of antitumor activity and toxicity of hetero-ligand vanadium(V) complexes, Djordjevic and Wampler (79) arrived at the conclusion that the hetero-ligand is able to affect the redox potential of the V(V)/V(IV) couple in such a way that intramolecular electron transfer can occur within the V(V)-peroxoadduct. As a consequence, vanadium(V) is reduced to the IV state, and the peroxo group is oxidized to a superoxide radical. It is conceivable that such a species is present also during the reaction of vanadium bromoperoxidase with H2O2. However, there is no evidence for a radical type of reaction with bro-moperoxidases. 

In supramolecular systems, electronic interactions between metal-polypyridine and other redox-active or units are too small to perturb ground-state electrochemical and spectroscopic properties but are sufficient to enable very fast intramolecular electron-transfer reactions upon excitation. 

C (66). If electron transfer from type 1 to type 3 copper couples the two halves of the enzyme cycle, as proposed for laccase, then this intramolecular redox reaction must be extremely rapid to account for the effects of trace dioxygen on the reduction of the type 1 copper. Consequently, despite the fact that an ambiguous assignment of a type 1 to type 3 transfer is not possible in this example, facile intramolecular electron transfer processes probably ensure a rapid distribution of electrons among the type 1 and type 3 copper centers, at least in some of the enzyme molecules. The equilibrium distribution, and quite conceivably the relative rates of approach to this state, should be influenced by the oxidation-reduction potentials, which, as described earlier in this chapter (Figure 5), favor electron occupancy of the type 3 copper pairs at 10.0°C. 

Related molecular dyads have been constructed in which a metal complex, often ruthenium(II) tris(2,2 -bipyridine) or similar, functions as chromophore and an appended organic moiety acts as redox partner. Other systems " have been built from two separate metal complexes. Each of these systems shows selective intramolecular electron transfer under illumination. Rates of charge separation and recombination have been measured in each case and, on the basis of transient spectroscopic studies, the reaction mechanism has been elucidated. The results are of extreme importance for furthering our understanding of electron-transfer reactions and for developing effective molecular-scale electronic devices. The field is open and still highly active. 

One feature of these reactions is the challenge in distinguishing between simple substitution and redox reactions. A radical can add to become a radical ligand, or a change of oxidation state of the metal center can accompany the reaction. For example, when superoxide adds to a Co(II) center there can be ambiguity as to whether the product is a Co(II)-superoxo complex or a Co(III)-peroxo complex. Moreover, there is the possibility that a Co(II)-superoxo complex might form initially, and then intramolecular electron transfer might occur to yield a Co(III)-peroxo complex. Reactions of NO raise similar issues. 

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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