Nickel bound thiolates

In conclusion, the [NiS] mediated formation of thioesters from alkyl, CO, and thiol groups lends support to an acetyl-CoA formation pathway that comprises CO insertion into a Ni Me and an intramolecular S -C bond formation between nickel-bound acyl groups and thiolate ligands. These reactions are favored at square-planar nickel complexes that enable two-electron redox reactions and readily add fifth ligands. 

Nickel is found in thiolate/sulflde environment in the [NiFe]-hydrogenases and in CODH/ACS.33 In addition, either a mononuclear Ni-thiolate site or a dinuclear cysteine-S bridged structure are assumed plausible for the new class of Ni-containing superoxide dismutases, NiSOD (A).34 [NiFe]-hydrogenase catalyzes the two-electron redox chemistry of dihydrogen. Several crystal structures of [NiFe]-hydrogenases have demonstrated that the active site of the enzyme consists of a heterodinuclear Ni—Fe unit bound to thiolate sulfurs of cysteine residues with a Ni—Fe distance below 3 A (4) 35-39 This heterodinuclear active site has been the target of extensive model studies, which are summarized in Section 6.3.4.12.5. 

Nickel-selenium coordination compounds have received attention in recent years, because a unique Ni-selenocysteine interaction was revealed in the active site of [FeNiSe]-hydrogenases.1083,1084 Of particular interest in this regard are mixed CO/selenolate complexes. Distorted square planar (393) was prepared from [CpNi(CO)]2, PhSeSePh, and [Fe(CO)3(SePh)3] and provides the first example of CO bound to a square planar Ni11 center in thiolate/selenolate environment.1085,1086 Upon addition of RSSR, species of the series [Ni(CO)(SR) (SePh)3 ] are formed. //(CO) ranges from 2,023 cm-1 to 2,043 cm-1 and is regarded as a spectroscopic reference for the CO binding site in [NiFeSe] hydrogenases. 

The structure of urease from BPU was solved also with p-mercaptoethanol bound at the active site (134), where the inhibitor symmetrically bridges the two nickel ions through its sulfur atom (J(Ni Ni) = 3.1 A) and chelates one nickel through the terminal OH functionality, akin to the mode of inhibition by AHA. Because of the bridging thiolate, the two nickel ions are strongly antiferromagnet-ically coupled (23). No synthetic model for the p-mercaptoethanol-inhibited active site was reported yet. 

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