Metalloproteins approach

Overall the single-crystal voltammetry, surface promoter sensitivity, and in situ STM of PJ d illuminate procedures and approaches to highly increased resolution in the bioelectrochemical mapping of redox metalloproteins, approaching the electrochemical resolution of small molecular adsorbate molecules. 

In metalloproteins, the paramagnet is an inseparable part of the native biomacromolecule, and so anisotropy in the metal EPR is not averaged away in aqueous solution at ambient temperatures. This opens the way to study metalloprotein EPR under conditions that would seem to approach those of the physiology of the cell more closely than when using frozen aqueous solutions. Still the number of papers describing metalloprotein bioEPR studies in the frozen state by far outnumbers studies in the liquid state. Several additional theoretical and practical problems are related to the latter (1) increased spin-lattice relaxation rate, (2) (bio)chemical reactivity, (3) unfavorable Boltzmann distributions, (4) limited tumbling rates, and (5) undefined g-strain. 

Early attempts at observing electron transfer in metalloproteins utilized redox-active metal complexes as external partners. The reactions were usually second-order and approaches based on the Marcus expression allowed, for example, conjectures as to the character and accessibility of the metal site. xhe agreement of the observed and calculated rate constants for cytochrome c reactions for example is particularly good, even ignoring work terms. The observations of deviation from second-order kinetics ( saturation kinetics) allowed the dissection of the observed rate constant into the components, namely adduct stability and first-order electron transfer rate constant (see however Sec. 1.6.4). Now it was a little easier to comment on the possible site of attack on the proteins, particularly when a number of modifications of the proteins became available. 

Before plunging into a discussion of how such complexes are prepared, it is perhaps worthwhile to consider explicitly the rationale for such activity. The synthesis and characterization of accurate model complexes for a given metal site in a protein or other macromolecule allows one to (l) determine the intrinsic properties of the metal site in the absence of perturbations provided by the protein environment or (il) in favorable cases, deduce the structure of the metal site by comparison of corresponding physical and spectroscopic properties of the model and metalloprotein (3). The first class of model complexes has been termed "corroborative models" by Hill (4), while the second are termed "speculative models" (4). To date, virtually all the major achievements of the synthetic model approach have been in development of corroborative models. 

Measurements of many kinds have been made between natural donor-acceptor pairs such as cytochrome c-cytochrome (y,161462 cytochrome c-cytochrome c peroxidase (Fig. 16-9),153163-166 trimethylamine dehy-drogenase-FMN to Fe4S4 center (Fig. 15-9),167 and methylamine dehydrogenase (TTQ radical)-amicya-nin (Cu2+).168 Designed metalloproteins are being studied as well.169 Femtosecond laser spectroscopy is providing a new approach.169,3... 

The EXAFS technique has been especially useful for metalloproteins. It has often provided the first clues as to the identity of atoms (O, N, S) surrounding a metal atom and either covalently bonded to it or coordinated with it (Chapter 16). Interpretations are often difficult, and a common approach is to try to simulate the observed spectrum by calculation from a proposed structure.118 Tautomerism in crystalline Schiff bases (see Eq. 23-24) has been studied by nearedge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) employing soft X-rays.119... 

The mechanism of the regulation of electron transfer in metalloproteins has been investigated 61) and two relevant examples have been discussed in the first one the molecular mechanism controlling the electron transfer reactions is restricted to the immediate chemical environment of the metal center (azurin), while in the second one it involves a conformational transition of the whole quaternary structure of the enzyme. The power of the kinetic approach in detecting significant intermediates was emphasized 6t>. The Cu metal complex site of azurin has a distorted tetrahedral... 

Watanabe and co-workers pursued an approach involving the non-covalent placement of Mn (III) and Cr (III) salophen complexes into apo-myoglobin [61]. In this artificial metalloprotein, two residues required mutation to improve the binding affinity of the... 

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