Vitamin Corrin ring

The structure of the diamagnetic, cherry-red vitamin B12 is shown in Fig. 26.6 and it can be seen that the coordination sphere of the cobalt has many similarities with that of iron in haem (see Fig. 25.7). In both cases the metal is coordinated to 4 nitrogen atoms of an unsaturated macrocycle (in this case part of a corrin ring which is less symmetrical and not so unsaturated as the porphyrin in haem) with an imidazole nitrogen in the fifth position. A major... 

Figure 26.6 Vitamin B12 (a) a corrin ring showing a square-planar set of N atoms and a replaceable H, and (b) simplified stmcture of B12. In view of the H displaced from the corrin ring, the Co-C bond, and the charge on the ribose phosphate, the cobalt is formally in the - -3 oxidation state. This and related molecules are conveniently represented as r...

A further example concerns the substitution reactions of the co-balamins (vitamin Bi2). Here the usually inert Co(III) center is labi-lized by the corrin ring, which induces a dissociative substitution behavior. A series of detailed studies of the effect of pressure on com-... 

Like many vitamins, cobalamin is functionally active as a derived coenzyme, coenzyme B12. Structurally, this is composed of a corrin ring a haem-like porphyrin ring containing cobalt (Co3+) at the centre held by four coordination bonds. The fifth... 

Vitamin Bjj (8.50, cobalamin) is an extremely complex molecule consisting of a corrin ring system similar to heme. The central metal atom is cobalt, coordinated with a ribofuranosyl-dimethylbenzimidazole. Vitamin Bjj occurs in liver, but is also produced by many bacteria and is therefore obtained commercially by fermentation. The vitamin is a catalyst for the rearrangement of methylmalonyl-CoA to the succinyl derivative in the degradation of some amino acids and the oxidation of fatty acids with an odd number of carbon atoms. It is also necessary for the methylation of homocysteine to methionine. 

Coenzyme B12 is the cofactor form of vitamin B 2, which is unique among all the vitamins in that it contains not only a complex organic molecule but an essential trace element, cobalt. The complex corrin ring system of vitamin B12 (colored blue in Fig. 2), to which cobalt (as Co3+) is coordinated, is chemically related to the porphyrin ring system of heme and heme proteins (see Fig. 5-1). A fifth coordination position of cobalt is filled by dimethylbenzimidazole ribonucleotide (shaded yellow), bound covalently by its 3 -phosphate group to a side chain of the corrin ring, through aminoisopropanol. 

The ring system of vitamin B12, like that of porphyrins (Fig. 16-5), is made up of four pyrrole rings whose biosynthetic relationship to the corresponding rings in porphyrins is obvious from the structures. In addition, a number of "extra" methyl groups are present. A less extensive conjugated system of double bonds is present in the corrin ring of vitamin B12 than in porphyrins, and as a result, many chiral centers are found around the periphery... 

Among the chemical forms adopted by the vitamin B12 coenzyme, one is a terminal hydride of the type CoHL5 where L represents a nitrogen ligand of the corrin ring or axial base. Hydrides may be important in vivo both in this case and in that of hydrogenases. 

Several macrocyclic ligands are shown in Figure 2. The porphyrin and corrin ring systems are well known, the latter for the cobalt-containing vitamin Bi2 coenzymes. Of more recent interest are the hydroporphyrins. Siroheme (an isobacteriochlorin) is the prosthetic group of the sulfite and nitrite reductases which catalyze the six-electron reductions of sulfite and nitrite to H2S and NH3 respectively. The demetallated form of siroheme, sirohydrochlorin, is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of vitamin Bi2, and so links the porphyrin and corrin macrocycles. Factor 430 is a tetrahydroporphyrin, and as its nickel complex is the prosthetic group of methyl coenzyme M reductase. F430 shows structural similarities to both siroheme and corrin. 

The structures of the biologically active forms of B12 were solved relatively recently (1961) (78) and were shown to contain a cobalt atom surrounded by a corrin ring as shown in Fig. 16 (80). The crystal structure also showed a cobalt-carbon a bond which was quite surprising since the few compounds with cobalt-carbon a- bonds known at that time were quite unstable (79). The corrin ring is similar to the porphyrin ring, but its greater saturation imports less rigidity than the porphyrin. Corrinoids with the axial 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole substituent are called cobalamins. Vitamin B12 with Co(III) and CN in the top axial position is... 

Vitamin B12 (cobalamins) (Figure 2.29) are extremely complex structures based on a corrin ring, which, although similar to the porphyrin ring found in haem, chlorophyll, and cytochromes,... 

Fig. 9.4. Vitamin B, coenzyme structure, showing bonding of deoxy-adenosyl carbanion to cobalt(III). Four of the five N atoms bonded to Co are furnished by the corrin ring and one is from a benzimidazole group.

The Co(III)—C bond in the natural coenzymes is resistant to cleavage in protic solvents. However, the bond length [20] is similar to that in models. Indeed, there appear to be no special corrin ring electronic properties necessary for such water-stable Co—C bonds even Co(III)—CH3 compounds with classical ligands such as ammonia or ethylenediamine have now been discovered [21], Although such non-Bi2-related systems are outside the scope of this review, I believe that the main reason that few such compounds are known lies in the paucity of synthetic routes. Since the Co—C bond, once formed, is relatively inert, such compounds could be used for multiple types of applications such as in molecular assemblies or devices [22], The natural compounds and some models are photosensitive, however [23]. It is this photosensitivity that delayed the discovery of the coenzymes, leading instead to the isolation and characterization of the vitamin [1]. 

In dicyanocobalt(III) a,b,c,d,e,g-hexamethyl-f-stearylamide cobyrinate (derivative 3) the six peripheral amide groups of vitamin B12 have been replaced with methyl ester groups, and the proximal base of the vitamin at the f-position with a stearylamide group (11). Electrodes prepared with this ionophore and DOS as the plasticizer were also selective for thiocyanate and nitrite over the rest of the anions tested. The main anionic interferent was salicylate. In all cases, the response of the electrodes to the preferred anions was sub-Nemstian. Overall, the selectivity pattern obtained with ionophore 3 is similar to that of 2 and to that of the hydrophobic cobyrinate-based electrodes reported previously (5, 12, 13). This observation suggests that in all cobyrinate ionophores the anions interact with the cobalt(III) center, and that the side chains of the corrin ring have a small effect on the selectivity of this interaction. 

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