Letter: Oxygen binding to iron porphyrins. An ab initio calculation

Structural insights into ligand dynamics: correlated oxygen and picket motion in oxycobalt picket fence porphyrins

Two different oxygen-ligated cobalt porphyrins have been synthesized and the solid-state structures have been determined at several temperatures. The solid-state structures provide insight into the dynamics of Co-O(2) rotation and correlation with protecting group disorder. [Co(TpivPP)(1-EtIm)(O(2))] (TpivPP = picket fence porphyrin) is prepared by oxygenation of [Co(TpivPP)(1-EtIm)(2)] in benzene solution. The structure at room temperature has the oxygen ligand within the ligand binding pocket and disordered over four sites and the trans imidazole is disordered over two sites. The structure at 100 K, after the crystal has been carefully annealed to yield a reversible phase change, is almost completely ordered. The phase change is reversed upon warming the crystal to 200 K, whereupon the oxygen ligand is again disordered but with quite unequal populations. Further warming to 300 K leads to greater disorder of the oxygen ligands with nearly equal O(2) occupancies at all four positions. The disorder of the tert-butyl groups of the protecting pickets is correlated with rotation of the O(2) around the Co-O(O(2)) bond. [Co(TpivPP)(2-MeHIm)(O(2))] is synthesized by a solid-state oxygenation reaction from the five-coordinate precursor [Co(TpivPP)(2-MeHIm)]. Exposure to 1 atm of O(2) leads to incomplete oxygenation, however, exposure at 5 atm yields complete oxygenation. Complete oxygenation leads to picket disorder whereas partial (40%) oxygenation does not. Crystallinity is retained on complete degassing of oxygen in the solid, and complete ordering of the pickets is restored. The results should provide basic information needed to better model M-O(2) dynamics in protein environments.

Nature of the Fe-O2 bonding in oxy-myoglobin: effect of the protein

The nature of the Fe-O2 bonding in oxy-myoglobin was probed by theoretical calculations: (a) QM/MM (hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical) calculations using DFT/MM and CASSCF/MM methods and (b) gas-phase calculations using DFT (density functional theory) and CASSCF (complete active space self-consistent field) methods. Within the protein, the O2 is hydrogen bonded by His64 and the complex feels the bulk polarity of the protein. Removal of the protein causes major changes in the complex. Thus, while CASSCF/MM and DFT/MM are similar in terms of state constitution, degree of O2 charge, and nature of the lowest triplet state, the gas-phase CASSCF(g) species is very different. Valence bond (VB) analysis of the CASSCF/MM wave function unequivocally supports the Weiss bonding mechanism. This bonding arises by electron transfer from heme-Fe(II) to O2 and the so formed species coupled then to a singlet state Fe(III)-O2(-) that possesses a dative sigma(Fe-O) bond and a weakly coupled pi(Fe-O2) bond pair. The bonding mechanism in the gas phase is similar, but now the sigma(Fe-O) bond involves higher back-donation from O2(-) to Fe(III), while the constituents of pi(Fe-O2) bond pair have greater delocalization tails. The protein thus strengthens the Fe(III)-O2(-) character of the complex and thereby affects its bonding features and the oxygen binding affinity of Mb. The VB model is generalized, showing how the protein or the axial ligand of the oxyheme complex can determine the nature of its bonding in terms of the blend of the three bonding models: Weiss, Pauling, and McClure-Goddard.

How O2 binds to heme: reasons for rapid binding and spin inversion

We have used density functional methods to calculate fully relaxed potential energy curves of the seven lowest electronic states during the binding of O(2) to a realistic model of ferrous deoxyheme. Beyond a Fe-O distance of approximately 2.5 A, we find a broad crossing region with five electronic states within 15 kJ/mol. The almost parallel surfaces strongly facilitate spin inversion, which is necessary in the reaction of O(2) with heme (deoxyheme is a quintet and O(2) a triplet, whereas oxyheme is a singlet). Thus, despite a small spin-orbit coupling in heme, the transition probability approaches unity. Using reasonable parameters, we estimate a transition probability of 0.06-1, which is at least 15 times larger than for the nonbiological Fe-O(+) system. Spin crossing is anticipated between the singlet ground state of bound oxyheme, the triplet and septet dissociation states, and a quintet intermediate state. The fact that the quintet state is close in energy to the dissociation couple is of biological importance, because it explains how both spin states of O(2) may bind to heme, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of oxygen binding. The activation barrier is estimated to be <15 kJ/mol based on our results and Mössbauer experiments. Our results indicate that both the activation energy and the spin-transition probability are tuned by the porphyrin as well as by the choice of the proximal heme ligand, which is a histidine in the globins. Together, they may accelerate O(2) binding to iron by approximately 10(11) compared with the Fe-O(+) system. A similar near degeneracy between spin states is observed in a ferric deoxyheme model with the histidine ligand hydrogen bonded to a carboxylate group, i.e. a model of heme peroxidases, which bind H(2)O(2) in this oxidation state.

Electron capture by oxyhaemoglobin: an e.s.r. study

Exposure of aqueous glasses containing oxyhaemoglobin to 60 Co γ rays at 77 K gave two similar paramagnetic centres whose electron spin resonance (e. s. r.) spectra resembled those of low-spin ferric derivatives. These were shown to be formed in the α and β chains by electron capture. The use of oxygen labelled with 17 O showed the presence of two inequiva­lent oxygen atoms and it is shown that the unpaired electron has consider­able spin density on the dioxygen ligand as well as on iron. When warmed above 77 K two new paramagnetic centres were formed, possibly as a result of protonation, before the formation of normal high-spin methaemoglobin, presumably by loss of HO 2 ¯ . Oxymyoglobin gave comparable centres.

Nature of O2 and CO binding to metalloporphyrins and heme proteins

The O2 vibration of dioxygen adducts of Fe and Co model complexes of alpha,alpha,alpha,alpha-tetrapivalamidophenylporphyrin ("picket fence" porphyrin, TpivPP) with 1-methylimidazole and 1-tritylimidazole as axial bases are reported, obtained with difference techniques between 16O2, 18O2, 169-18O, and NO with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Assignments of upsilono2 are (O2)Fe(TpivPP) 1-methylimidazole, 1159 cm-1 in Nujol; (O2)Fe(TpivPP) 1-tritylimidazole, 1163 in benzene; (O2)Co(TpivPP) 1-methylimidazole, 1150 in Nujol; (O2)Co(TpivPP) 1-tritylimidazole, 1153 in benzene. Comparisons with other known Fe, Co, Cr, and Ti dioxygen complexes are made, and it is concluded that the bent dioxygen ligand is best viewed as bound superoxide, O2-. The CO affinities of various hemoproteins and model systems are discussed. A correlation between the CO stretching frequency and its binding constant is described. The drastically lowered affinity of hemoproteins for CO compared with unencumbered models is attributed to steric hindrance in the distal binding site, which allows discrimination between the already bent FeIII-O2- and the normally linear FeII-CO systems. If the affinity of hemoproteins in living systems for CO relative to O2 were not decreased, then massive poisoning would result from endogenous CO.