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

该研究奖在无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目中支持哈佛大学R. H. Holm教授对钼和钨的生物相关化学进行基础研究。这些元素是酶的基本组成部分，这些酶催化的反应对包括人类在内的整个进化尺度的生物体的生命至关重要。钼是一种必需的人体营养素，是参与痛风和心力衰竭等疾病的酶的功能所必需的。此外，它的缺乏与神经异常和智力迟钝有关。钼和钨酶也与处理碳、氧、氮、硫、砷和硒的全球循环有关。本研究的总体目的是开发和解释直接影响钼和钨自然行为的分子化学系统，这些系统通过含有这些元素的酶的生理反应来表达。拟议的研究代表了生物相关无机化学科学进步的机会，也是教育学生（本科生和博士后学者）在该领域的实验技术和理论思想的手段。这个过程包括研究、研讨会和批判性讨论。本实验室面向希望在生物无机领域工作的本科生开放。首席研究员经常在校外演讲。这些活动的总和被认为是对现在和未来科学人才教育的贡献。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，氧原子从一个分子移动到另一个分子；这种反应是钼、钨和某些含铁酶以及化学合成中使用的许多氧化催化剂的主要作用。

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.