Four-electron reduction

The oxygen reaction is quite complex. Complete reduction from oxygen gas to hydroxide ion involves four electrons and requires several steps. Initially, oxygen is reduced to peroxyl ion [14691-59-9]... 

Complex rV is called, cytochrome c oxidase because it accepts electrons from cytochrome c and directs them to the four-electron reduction of O2 to form H2O ... 

Cytochrome c oxidase contains two heme centers (cytochromes a and %) as well as two copper atoms (Figure 21.17). The copper sites, Cu and Cug, are associated with cytochromes a and respectively. The copper sites participate in electron transfer by cycling between the reduced (cuprous) Cu state and the oxidized (cupric) Cu state. (Remember, the cytochromes and copper sites are one-electron transfer agents.) Reduction of one oxygen molecule requires passage of four electrons through these carriers—one at a time (Figure... 

The reduction of oxygen in Complex IV is accompanied by transport of protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Transfer of four electrons through this complex drives the transport of approximately four protons. The mechanism of proton transport is unknown but is thought to involve the steps from state P to state O (Figure 21.20). Four protons are taken up on the matrix side for every two protons transported to the cytoplasm (see Figure 21.17). 

This impressive reaction is catalyzed by stearoyl-CoA desaturase, a 53-kD enzyme containing a nonheme iron center. NADH and oxygen (Og) are required, as are two other proteins cytochrome 65 reductase (a 43-kD flavo-protein) and cytochrome 65 (16.7 kD). All three proteins are associated with the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Cytochrome reductase transfers a pair of electrons from NADH through FAD to cytochrome (Figure 25.14). Oxidation of reduced cytochrome be, is coupled to reduction of nonheme Fe to Fe in the desaturase. The Fe accepts a pair of electrons (one at a time in a cycle) from cytochrome b and creates a cis double bond at the 9,10-posi-tion of the stearoyl-CoA substrate. Og is the terminal electron acceptor in this fatty acyl desaturation cycle. Note that two water molecules are made, which means that four electrons are transferred overall. Two of these come through the reaction sequence from NADH, and two come from the fatty acyl substrate that is being dehydrogenated. 

Tellurium and cadmium Electrodeposition of Te has been reported [33] in basic chloroaluminates the element is formed from the [TeCl ] complex in one four-electron reduction step, furthermore, metallic Te can be reduced to Te species. Electrodeposition of the element on glassy carbon involves three-dimensional nucleation. A systematic study of the electrodeposition in different ionic liquids would be of interest because - as with InSb - a defined codeposition with cadmium could produce the direct semiconductor CdTe. Although this semiconductor can be deposited from aqueous solutions in a layer-by-layer process [34], variation of the temperature over a wide range would be interesting since the grain sizes and the kinetics of the reaction would be influenced. 

Before considering the role of the electrode material in detail, there is one further factor which should be pointed out. The product of an electrode process may be dependent on the timescale of the contact between the electroactive species and the electrode surface, particularly when a chemical reaction is sandwiched between two electron transfers in the overall process. This was first realized when it was found that ir E curves and reaction products at a dropping mercury electrode were not always the same as those at a mercury pool electrode (Zuman, 1967a). For example, the reduction of p-diacetylbenzene at a mercury pool was found to be a four-electron process, giving rise to the dialcohol, while at a dropping mercury electrode the product was formed by a two-electron process where only one keto group was reduced (Kargin et al., 1966). These facts were interpreted in terms of the mechanism... 

It is conventional to discuss the stoichiometry for proton extrusion as HV2e ratios, although there are two-, one-, and four-electron reductions at different stages in the respiratory chain. Most textbooks still assert that the flow of two electrons... 

The electrochemical reduction of 4//-thiopyrans bearing four electron-withdrawing substituents leads to 5,6-dihydro-2//-thiopyrans. Four diastereoisomers are produced, their relative proportions depending on the electrolytic conditions. Their conformations have been established using the vinylic proton as an nmr probe and confirmed in some instances by X-ray analysis <96JCS(P2)2623>. 

The possibility that adsorption reactions play an important role in the reduction of telluryl ions has been discussed in several works (Chap. 3 CdTe). By using various electrochemical techniques in stationary and non-stationary diffusion regimes, such as voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, and pulsed current electrolysis, Montiel-Santillan et al. [52] have shown that the electrochemical reduction of HTeOj in acid sulfate medium (pH 2) on solid tellurium electrodes, generated in situ at 25 °C, must be considered as a four-electron process preceded by a slow adsorption step of the telluryl ions the reduction mechanism was observed to depend on the applied potential, so that at high overpotentials the adsorption step was not significant for the overall process. 

The different classes of Ru-based catalysts, including crystalline Chevrel-phase chalcogenides, nanostructured Ru, and Ru-Se clusters, and also Ru-N chelate compounds (RuNj), have been reviewed recently by Lee and Popov [29] in terms of the activity and selectivity toward the four-electron oxygen reduction to water. The conclusion was drawn that selenium is a critical element controlling the catalytic properties of Ru clusters as it directly modifies the electronic structure of the catalytic reaction center and increases the resistance to electrochemical oxidation of interfacial Ru atoms in acidic environments. 

The production of HjOj, either as an intermediate in the four-electron reduction of Oj to water, or as a reaction product. In the latter case the thermodynamic equilibrium potential of the reaction, i.e.,... 

Dimeric flavoprotein chromate reductases have been purified from Pseudomonas putida (ChrR) and Escherichia coli (YieF). The former produces a semiquinone and transiently reactive oxygen species, whereas the latter is an obligate four-electron reductant. One-electron reduction of Cr(Vl) to Cr(V) has, however, been observed as an intermediate in the reduction by the NAD(P)H-dependent reductase of Pseudomonas ambigua strain G-1 (Suzuki et al. 1992). 

Although reduction of chromate Cr to Cr has been observed in a number of bacteria, these are not necessarily associated with chromate resistance. For example, reduction of chromate has been observed with cytochrome Cj in Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Lovley and Phillips 1994), soluble chromate reductase has been purified from Pseudomonas putida (Park et al. 2000), and a membrane-bound reductase has been purified from Enterobacter cloacae (Wang et al. 1990). The flavoprotein reductases from Pseudomonas putida (ChrR) and Escherichia coli (YieF) have been purified and can reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) (Ackerley et al. 2004). Whereas ChrR generated a semi-quinone and reactive oxygen species, YieR yielded no semiquinone, and is apparently an obligate four-electron reductant. It could therefore present a suitable enzyme for bioremediation. 

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