Metalloproteins and electron

Introduce instrumental techniques used in analysis of the bioinorganic systems I will lecture on (Chapter 3 Instrumental and Computer-Based Methods). Typically, these would be electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Mossbauer spectroscopies not often covered in undergraduate instrumental analysis courses plus X-ray diffraction and NMR techniques used for structural analyses of metalloproteins and their small molecule model compounds. 

The study of metals in biological systems requires techniques, some of them highly specific, some limited to certain aspects of the metal ion in question, some of more general applicability. Thus, Mossbauer spectroscopy in biological systems is restricted to iron-containing systems because the only element available with a Mossbauer nucleus is 57Fe. The EPR spectroscopic techniques will be of application only if the metal centre has an unpaired electron. In contrast, provided that crystals can be obtained, X-ray diffraction allows the determination of the 3-D structure of metalloproteins and their metal centres. 

Electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) are two of a variety of pulsed EPR techniques that are used to study paramagnetic metal centers in metalloenzymes. The techniques are discussed in Chapter 4 of reference la and will not be discussed in any detail here. The techniques can define electron-nuclear hyperfine interactions too small to be resolved within the natural width of the EPR line. For instance, as a paramagnetic transition metal center in a metalloprotein interacts with magnetic nuclei such as H, H, P, or these... 

Secondary inorganic radicals are particularly useful for studying redox changes in metalloproteins and organometallic complexes because these radicals are more likely to react at the metal center by electron transfer, whereas OH will also attack the organic moiety and, by abstracting H, create a reducing radical there. 

Blue copper proteins are a family of metalloproteins that have been found to play an important role in a number of electron-transfer reactions in nature. Solomon and coworkers have studied a range of blue copper enzymes in detail to produce a thorough description of how molecular and electronic structure interact to provide the function of these enzymes (26,158). 

This leads us finally to a brief discussion of our recent work on metalloproteins, and their model systems, metalloporphyrins. Here, the basic longterm objectives are to obtain a better understanding of how CO and 02, and their isoelectronic counterparts the isocyanides (RNC) and nitrosoalkanes/nitrosoarenes (RNO), bind to Fe, as well as to probe the structure of cytochrome c, a small protein involved not only in electron-transfer, but in apoptosis, or programmed cell death (44). 

The observations illustrate that inelastic and thermally activated tunnel channels may apply to metalloproteins and large transition metal complexes. The channels hold perspectives for mapping protein structure, adsorption and electronic function at metallic surfaces. One observation regarding the latter is, for example that the two electrode potentials can be varied in parallel, relative to a common reference electrode potential, at fixed bias potential. This is equivalent to taking the local redox level up or down relative to the Fermi levels (Fig. 5.6a). If both electrode potentials are shifted negatively, and the redox level is empty (oxidized), then the current at first rises. It reaches a maximum, convoluted with the bias potential between the two Fermi levels, and then drops as further potential variation takes the redox level below the Fermi level of the positively biased electrode. The relation between such current-voltage patterns and other three-level processes, such as molecular resonance Raman scattering [76], has been discussed [38]. 

Cytochrome c, a small heme protein (mol wt 12,400) is an important member of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. In this chain it assists in the transport of electrons from organic substrates to oxygen. In the course of this electron transport the iron atom of the cytochrome is alternately oxidized and reduced. Oxidation-reduction reactions are thus intimately related to the function of cytochrome c, and its electron transfer reactions have therefore been extensively studied. The reagents used to probe its redox activity range from hydrated electrons (I, 2, 3) and hydrogen atoms (4) to the complicated oxidase (5, 6, 7, 8) and reductase (9, 10, 11) systems. This chapter is concerned with the reactions of cytochrome c with transition metal complexes and metalloproteins and with the electron transfer mechanisms implicated by these studies. 

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