Sulfur K-Edge XAS and DFT Calculations on NitrileHydratase: Geometric and Electronic Structure of the Non-heme Iron Active Site

Abstract

The geometric and electronic structure of the active site of the non-heme iron enzyme nitrile hydratase (NHase) is studied using sulfur K-edge XAS and DFT calculations. Using thiolate (RS{sup -})-, sulfenate (RSO{sup -})-, and sulfinate (RSO{sub 2}{sup -})-ligated model complexes to provide benchmark spectral parameters, the results show that the S K-edge XAS is sensitive to the oxidation state of S-containing ligands and that the spectrum of the RSO- species changes upon protonation as the S-O bond is elongated (by {approx}0.1 {angstrom}). These signature features are used to identify the three cysteine residues coordinated to the low-spin Fe{sup III} in the active site of NHase as CysS{sup -}, CysSOH, and CysSO{sub 2}{sup -} both in the NO-bound inactive form and in the photolyzed active form. These results are correlated to geometry-optimized DFT calculations. The pre-edge region of the X-ray absorption spectrum is sensitive to the Z{sub eff} of the Fe and reveals that the Fe in [FeNO]{sup 6} NHase species has a Z{sub eff} very similar to that of its photolyzed Fe{sup III} counterpart. DFT calculations reveal that this results from the strong {pi} back-bonding into the {pi}* antibonding orbital of NO, which shifts significant charge from the formally t{sub 2}{sup 6} low-spin metal to the coordinated NO