Nonheme Diiron Centers and the Biological Oxidation of Hydrocarbons

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this research is to advance our understanding of multicomponent mono-oxygenases that activate dioxygen for the selective hydroxylation of hydrocarbons. These remarkable enzyme systems, which typically consist of hydroxylase, reductase, and regulatory proteins, consume four substrates - a hydrocarbon, O2, electrons, and protons - to produce alcohol and water. The flagship member of the family is soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), which has a carboxylate-bridged non-heme diiron center at the active site of its hydroxylase component where selective oxidation of methane to methanol is achieved. Similar units that occur in organisms ranging from plants to mammals activate O2 to perform a variety of related functions. Structures of the individual component proteins, and of complexes between them, from three bacterial systems, sMMO, toluene/o-xylene monooxygenase, and phenol hydroxylase, will be investigated by X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. O2 activation in native and mutant hydroxylases will be studied by rapid-mixing and freeze-quench methodologies, including a novel sub-ms technique, combined with optical absorption, resonance Raman, IR, EPR, EXAFS, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Reactions of kinetically isolated intermediates with substrates will be investigated to reveal mechanisms responsible for stereospecific hydroxylation of alkanes, alkenes, arenes, and heteroatom-substituted substrates. Activation parameters and kinetic isotope effects will be determined for comparison with theoretically derived values to test proposed mechanistic pathways. Electron-transfer and proton-translocation reactions between the reductase or Rieske component proteins and the hydroxylases will be investigated. Small molecule analogs of the hydroxylase diiron centers will be prepared and characterized. The structures and properties of intermediates generated by reacting diiron(ll) model complexes with O2 and their ability to oxidize tethered or exogenous substrates will be studied. A newly developed preparative route will afford biomimetic complexes with N-donors syn to the Fe-Fe vector of the carboxylate-bridged dimetallic center. This project is relevant to public health because bacterial monooxygenases prevent ChU, a greenhouse gas, from reaching the atmosphere, degrade chlorinated hydrocarbons in ground water, and are activated for bioremediation of oil spills. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of O2 activation and substrate hydroxylation provided by this research will advance novel strategies for environmental decontamination and the development of catalysts to convert methane to methanol.