Biomimetic Chemistry of Molybdenum and Tungsten: Analogue Reaction Systems of Oxotransferases and Hydroxylases

无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目的这一研究奖支持哈佛大学的R.H.Holm教授开展与钼和钨的生物相关化学的基础研究。这些元素是酶的基本成分，在整个进化范围内催化对包括人类在内的有机体的生命至关重要的反应。钼是人体必需的营养物质，也是酶发挥功能所必需的，这些酶与痛风和心力衰竭等疾病有关。此外，它的缺陷与神经异常和智力低下有关。钼和钨的酶也参与了处理碳、氧、氮、硫、砷和硒的全球循环。这项研究的总体目的是开发和解释与钼和钨的自然行为直接相关的分子化学体系，这些体系通过含有这些元素的酶的生理反应来表达。拟议的研究代表着与生物相关的无机化学的科学进步的机会，也是对学生(本科生和博士后学者)进行这一领域的实验技术和理论思想教育的一种手段。这个过程包括研究、研讨会和批判性讨论。这个实验室对希望在生物无机领域工作的本科生开放。首席调查员经常在场外讲课。这项研究有助于更好地理解氧原子转移反应的发生、动力学和机理。在氧原子转移反应中，一个氧原子从一个分子转移到另一个分子；这种反应是钼、钨和某些含铁的酶以及化学合成中使用的许多氧化催化剂的主要功能。

This research award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry program supports work by Professor R. H. Holm at Harvard University to carry out fundamental studies of biologically related chemistry of molybdenum and tungsten. These elements are essential components of enzymes that catalyze reactions essential to the life of organisms throughout the evolutionary scale, including humans. Molybdenum is an essential human nutrient and is required in the functioning of enzymes that are involved in diseases including gout and the effects of cardiac failure. Further, its deficiency is related to neurological abnormalities and mental retardation. Molybdenum and tungsten enzymes are also implicated in global cycles that process, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, arsenic, and selenium. The overall purpose of this research is to develop and interpret molecular chemical systems that bear directly on the natural behavior of molybdenum and tungsten as expressed by physiological reactions of enzymes that contain these elements.The proposed research represents an opportunity for scientific advancement in biologically related inorganic chemistry and a means of educating students (undergraduates and postdoctoral scholars) in experimental techniques and theoretical ideas in this field. The process involves research, seminars, and critical discussion. This laboratory is open to undergraduate students who wish to work in the bioinorganic area. The principal investigator is a frequent lecturer in outside venues. The sum of these activities is considered a contribution to the education of present and future scientific manpower.This research contributes to a better understanding of the occurrence, kinetics, and mechanism of oxygen atom transfer reactions, in which an oxygen atom is moved from one molecule to another; such reactions are the primary function of molybdenum-, tungsten-, and certain iron-containing enzymes and of many oxidation catalysts employed in chemical synthesis.