Molybdenum complexes electron paramagnetic resonance

Various other techniques have been used to determine molybdenum, including adsorption voltammetry [510], electron-paramagnetic resonance spectrometry [512], and neutron activation analysis [513,514]. EPR spectrometry is carried out on the isoamyl alcohol soluble Mo(SCN)s complex and is capable of detecting 0.46 mg/1 molybdenum in seawater. Neutron activation is carried out on the /J-naphlhoin oxime [514] complex and the pyrrolidone dithiocar-bamate and diethyldithiocarbamate complex [513]. The neutron activation analysis method [514] was capable of determining down to 0.32 xg/l of molybdenum in seawater. 

As yet, no X-ray crystal structures are available for any of the molybdenum enzymes in Table I. Therefore, present descriptions of the coordination environment of the molybdenum centers of the enzymes rest primarily upon comparisons of the spectra of the enzymes with the spectra of well-characterized molybdenum complexes. The two most powerful techniques for directly probing the molybdenum centers of enzymes are electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), especially the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) from experiments at the Mo K-absorption edge. Brief summaries of techniques are presented in this section, followed by specific results for sulfite oxidase (Section III.B), xanthine oxidase (Section III.C), and model compounds (Section IV). 

RC Bray, MT Lamy, S Gutteridge, T Wilkinson. Evidence from electron-paramagnetic-resonance spectroscopy for a complex of sulphite ions with the molybdenum center of sulphite oxidase. Biochem J 201 241, 1982. 

The third principal application of the electron spin resonance technique is to the study of paramagnetic transition metal ions in biochemical systems. Most examples are complexes of copper, iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt and molybdenum. Other metals such as titanium, vanadium and nickel are sometimes employed as structural probes. Only four of these ions, Cu ", Mn, Gd " and VO ", are seen in ESR spectroscopy at room temperature under virtually all conditions. Therefore, they are of special importance. 

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