Theory of chemical bonds in metalloenzymes XVI. Oxygen activation by high-valent transition metal ions in native and artificial systems

Understanding Two Different Structures in the Dark Stable State of the Oxygen-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II: Applicability of the Jahn-Teller Deformation Formula

Tanaka et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 1718) recently reported the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using extremely low X-ray doses of 0.03 and 0.12 MGy. They observed two different 3D structures of the CaMn4O5 cluster with different hydrogen-bonding interactions in the S1 state of OEC keeping the surrounding polypeptide frameworks of PSII the same. Our Jahn-Teller (JT) deformation formula based on large-scale quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) was applied for these low-dose XRD structures, elucidating important roles of JT effects of the MnIII ion for subtle geometric distortions of the CaMn4O5 cluster in OEC of PSII. The JT deformation formula revealed the similarity between the low-dose XRD and damage-free serial femtosecond X-ray diffraction (SFX) structures of the CaMn4O5 cluster in the dark stable state. The extremely low-dose XRD structures were not damaged by X-ray irradiation. Implications of the present results are discussed in relation to recent SFX results and a blue print for the design of artificial photocatalysts for water oxidation.

Thymine vanadyl(II) compound as a diabetic drug model: chemical spectroscopic and antimicrobial assessments

The aim of this study was to synthesize a novel bifunctionalized thymine vanadyl(II) compound. The solid vanadyl(II) compound has been characterized by elemental analyses (CHN), Raman laser, infrared spectra, molar conductivity, electronic spectra, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) studies. Electronic and magnetic measurements have confirmed that the speculated geometry of vanadyl(II) compound is square pyramidal geometry. The microbial test was performed for the vanadyl complex against some kinds of bacteria and fungi. The results suggested that [VO(Thy)2] adduct has an anti-diabetic profile.