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

这项研究奖在无机，生物无机和有机化学计划支持教授R。H.霍尔姆在哈佛大学进行基础研究的生物相关化学的钼和钨。 这些元素是酶的基本组成部分，催化生物体（包括人类）在整个进化过程中生命所必需的反应。 钼是一种人体必需的营养素，是参与痛风和心力衰竭等疾病的酶的功能所必需的。 此外，它的缺陷与神经系统异常和智力迟钝有关。 钼和钨酶也涉及全球循环过程，碳，氧，氮，硫，砷和硒。 本研究的总体目的是开发和解释直接影响钼和钨的自然行为的分子化学系统，这些行为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，也是教育学生的一种手段。（本科生和博士后学者）在实验技术和理论思想在这一领域。 这一过程包括研究、研讨会和批判性讨论。 本实验室对希望在生物无机领域工作的本科生开放。首席研究员经常在外部场所演讲。 这些活动的总和被认为是对当前和未来科学人才教育的贡献，这项研究有助于更好地了解氧原子转移反应的发生、动力学和机制，在这种反应中，氧原子从一个分子转移到另一个分子;此类反应是含钼、含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.