Metal-Ligand Bonding in Sulfinato Complexes of Transition Metals

Preparation and purification of zinc sulfinate reagents for drug discovery

The present protocol details the synthesis of zinc bis(alkanesulfinate)s that can be used as general reagents for the formation of radical species. The zinc sulfinates described herein are generated from the corresponding sulfonyl chlorides by treatment with zinc dust. The products may be used crude, or a simple purification procedure may be performed to minimize incorporation of water and zinc chloride. Although the synthesis of the zinc sulfinate salts can generally be completed within 3 h, workup can take up to 24 h and purification can take up to 3 h. Following the steps in this protocol would enable the user to generate a small toolkit of zinc sulfinate reagents over the course of 1 week.

Colorimetric assay for methanesulfinic acid in biological samples

We describe a simple colorimetric method to measure 30 to 300 microM concentrations of sulfinic acids in biologic samples. The procedure employs the coupling reaction of an aromatic diazonium salt (Ar--N = N+) with the sulfinic acids (RSOOH) to produce a colored diazosulfone derivative (Ar-N = N-SOOR), which can be selectively extracted into an organic solvent. Linearity as well as noninterference by liver homogenate, phenols, amines, and thousandfold or greater excesses of sulfate, thiol, and dimethyl sulfoxide is demonstrated. Sensitivity of the method is about 10 nmol per sample. Because methanesulfinic acid is the principal product of the action of hydroxyl radicals upon dimethyl sulfoxide, and because intact animals can tolerate dimethyl sulfoxide in millimolar concentrations, the method may prove widely useful for detecting the involvement of hydroxyl radicals in pathologic processes in vivo.