Redox Site

Controllcd-Currcnt Coulomctry The use of a mediator makes controlled-current coulometry a more versatile analytical method than controlled-potential coulome-try. For example, the direct oxidation or reduction of a protein at the working electrode in controlled-potential coulometry is difficult if the protein s active redox site lies deep within its structure. The controlled-current coulometric analysis of the protein is made possible, however, by coupling its oxidation or reduction to a mediator that is reduced or oxidized at the working electrode. Controlled-current coulometric methods have been developed for many of the same analytes that may be determined by conventional redox titrimetry. These methods, several of which are summarized in Table 11.9, also are called coulometric redox titrations. 

The properties of electron transfer proteins that are discussed here specifically affect the electron transfer reaction and not the association or binding of the reactants. A brief overview of these properties is given here more detailed discussions may be found elsewhere (e.g.. Ref. 1). The process of electron transfer is a very simple chemical reaction, i.e., the transfer of an electron from the donor redox site to the acceptor redox site. 

The calculation of E] and X from computational methods is the focus here. Generally, the energetics of these quantities are separated into contributions from the inner and outer shells. For transfer between small molecules, the inner shell generally is defined as the entire solutes A and D, and the outer shell is generally defined as only the solvent. However, in a more practical approach for proteins, the inner shell is defined as only the redox site, which consists of the metal plus its ligands no further than atoms of the side chains that are directly coordinated to the metal, and the outer shell is defined as the rest of the protein plus the surrounding solvent. Thus... 

Computer simulations of electron transfer proteins often entail a variety of calculation techniques electronic structure calculations, molecular mechanics, and electrostatic calculations. In this section, general considerations for calculations of metalloproteins are outlined in subsequent sections, details for studying specific redox properties are given. Quantum chemistry electronic structure calculations of the redox site are important in the calculation of the energetics of the redox site and in obtaining parameters and are discussed in Sections III.A and III.B. Both molecular mechanics and electrostatic calculations of the protein are important in understanding the outer shell energetics and are discussed in Section III.C, with a focus on molecular mechanics. 

In Scheme 1 the state of the protein is indicated by (q,r), where q denotes the oxidized or reduced charge state of the redox site and r denotes the coordinates of the outer shell in equilibrium with the oxidized or reduced redox site. The energy of the reaction, AE, for the reduction (o r) and the oxidation (r o) reactions is broken down as... 

A. Calculation of Differences in the Energy Change of the Redox Site... 

Changes in the environment of the redox site can lead to changes in the redox potential via alteration of the interaction energy of the redox site with the outer shell. In many... 

One example of a sequence determinant of redox potentials that has been identified in this manner is an Ala-to-Val mutation at residue 44, which causes a 50 mV decrease in redox potential (and vice versa) in the rubredoxins [68]. The mutation was identified because the sum of the backbone contributions to ( ) of residues 43 and 44 change by 40 mV due to an —0.5 A backbone shift away from the redox site. This example points out the importance of examining the backbone contributions. The corresponding site-specific mutants have confirmed both the redox potential shift [75] and the structural shift [75]. 

A second example is that of an Ala-to-Cys mutation, which causes the fonnation of a rare SH S hydrogen bond between the cysteine and a redox site sulfur and a 50 mV decrease in redox potential (and vice versa) in the bacterial ferredoxins [73]. Here, the side chain contribution of the cysteine is significant however, a backbone shift can also contribute depending on whether the nearby residues allow it to happen. Site-specific mutants have confirmed the redox potential shift [76,77] and the side chain conformation of cysteine but not the backbone shift in the case with crystal structures of both the native and mutant species [78] the latter can be attributed to the specific sequence of the ferre-doxin studied [73]. 

BW Beck, IB Koerner, RB Yelle, T Ichiye. Unusual hydrogen bonding ability of sulfurs m Fe-S redox sites Ah initio quantum and classical mechanical studies. I Phys Chem B, submitted. 

JB Koerner, T Ichiye. Interactions of the rubredoxm redox site analogue [Fe(SCH3)4] with water An ah initio quantum chemistry study. J Phys Chem B 104 2424-2431, 2000. 

Electron-hopping is the main charge-transport mechanism in ECHB materials. There is precedence in the photoconductivity Held for improved charge transport by incorporating a number of redox sites into the same molecule. A number of attempts to adapt this approach for ECHB materials have been documented. Many use the oxadiazole core as the electron-transport moiety and examples include radialene 40 and dendrimer 41. However, these newer systems do not offer significant improvements in electron injection over the parent PBD. 

On the other hand, Doblhofer218 has pointed out that since conducting polymer films are solvated and contain mobile ions, the potential drop occurs primarily at the metal/polymer interface. As with a redox polymer, electrons move across the film because of concentration gradients of oxidized and reduced sites, and redox processes involving solution species occur as bimolecular reactions with polymer redox sites at the polymer/solution interface. This model was found to be consistent with data for the reduction and oxidation of a variety of species at poly(7V-methylpyrrole). This polymer has a relatively low maximum conductivity (10-6 - 10 5 S cm"1) and was only partially oxidized in the mediation experiments, which may explain why it behaved more like a redox polymer than a typical conducting polymer. 

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