Synthetic Cluster Models of Biological and Heterogeneous Manganese Catalysts for O_2 Evolution

Artificial photosynthesis has emerged as an important strategy toward clean and renewable fuels. Catalytic oxidation of water to O_2 remains a significant challenge in this context. A mechanistic understanding of currently known heterogeneous and biological catalysts at a molecular level is highly desirable for fundamental reasons as well as for the rational design of practical catalysts. This Award Article discusses recent efforts in synthesizing structural models of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II. These structural motifs are also related to heterogeneous mixed-metal oxide catalysts. A stepwise synthetic methodology was developed toward achieving the structural complexity of the targeted active sites. A geometrically restricted multinucleating ligand, but with labile coordination modes, was employed for the synthesis of low-oxidation-state trimetallic species. These precursors were elaborated to site-differentiated tetrametallic complexes in high oxidation states. This methodology has allowed for structure−reactivity studies that have offered insight into the effects of different components of the clusters. Mechanistic aspects of oxygen-atom transfer and incorporation from water have been interrogated. Significantly, a large and systematic effect of redox-inactive metals on the redox properties of these clusters was discovered. With the pK_a value of the redox-inactive metal−aqua complex as a measure of the Lewis acidity, structurally analogous clusters display a linear dependence between the reduction potential and acidity; each pK_a unit shifts the potential by ca. 90 mV. Implications for the function of the biological and heterogeneous catalysts are discussed

Soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy of metalloproteins and high-valent metal-complexes at room temperature using free-electron lasers

X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the L-edge of 3d transition metals provides unique information on the local metal charge and spin states by directly probing 3d-derived molecular orbitals through 2p-3d transitions. However, this soft x-ray technique has been rarely used at synchrotron facilities for mechanistic studies of metalloenzymes due to the difficulties of x-ray-induced sample damage and strong background signals from light elements that can dominate the low metal signal. Here, we combine femtosecond soft x-ray pulses from a free-electron laser with a novel x-ray fluorescence-yield spectrometer to overcome these difficulties. We present L-edge absorption spectra of inorganic high-valent Mn complexes (Mn ∼ 6–15 mmol/l) with no visible effects of radiation damage. We also present the first L-edge absorption spectra of the oxygen evolving complex (Mn_4CaO_5) in Photosystem II (Mn < 1 mmol/l) at room temperature, measured under similar conditions. Our approach opens new ways to study metalloenzymes under functional conditions

Oxygen Atom Transfer and Oxidative Water Incorporation in Cuboidal Mn_(3)MO_n Complexes Based on Synthetic, Isotopic Labeling, and Computational Studies

The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II contains a Mn_(4)CaO_n catalytic site, in which reactivity of bridging oxidos is fundamental to OEC function. We synthesized structurally relevant cuboidal Mn_(3)MO_n complexes (M = Mn, Ca, Sc; n = 3,4) to enable mechanistic studies of reactivity and incorporation of μ_(3)-oxido moieties. We found that Mn^(IV)_(3)CaO_4 and Mn^(IV)_(3)ScO_4 were unreactive toward trimethylphosphine (PMe_3). In contrast, our Mn^(III)_(2)Mn^(IV)_(2)O_4 cubane reacts with this phosphine within minutes to generate a novel Mn^(III)_(4)O_3 partial cubane plus Me_(3)PO. We used quantum mechanics to investigate the reaction paths for oxygen atom transfer to phosphine from Mn^(III)_(2)Mn^(IV)_(2)O_4 and Mn^(IV)_(3)CaO_4. We found that the most favorable reaction path leads to partial detachment of the CH_(3)COO^– ligand, which is energetically feasible only when Mn(III) is present. Experimentally, the lability of metal-bound acetates is greatest for Mn^(III)_(2)Mn^(IV)_(2)O_4. These results indicate that even with a strong oxygen atom acceptor, such as PMe_3, the oxygen atom transfer chemistry from Mn_(3)MO_4 cubanes is controlled by ligand lability, with the Mn^(IV)_(3)CaO_4 OEC model being unreactive. The oxidative oxide incorporation into the partial cubane, Mn^(III)_(4)O_3, was observed experimentally upon treatment with water, base, and oxidizing equivalents. ^(18)O-labeling experiments provided mechanistic insight into the position of incorporation in the partial cubane structure, consistent with mechanisms involving migration of oxide moieties within the cluster but not consistent with selective incorporation at the site available in the starting species. These results support recent proposals for the mechanism of the OEC, involving oxido migration between distinct positions within the cluster

Toward Models for the Full Oxygen-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II by Ligand Coordination To Lower the Symmetry of the Mn_3CaO_4 Cubane: Demonstration That Electronic Effects Facilitate Binding of a Fifth Metal

Synthetic model compounds have been targeted to benchmark and better understand the electronic structure, geometry, spectroscopy, and reactivity of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II, a low-symmetry Mn_4CaO_n cluster. Herein, low-symmetry Mn^(IV)_3GdO_4 and Mn^(IV_)3CaO_4 cubanes are synthesized in a rational, stepwise fashion through desymmetrization by ligand substitution, causing significant cubane distortions. As a result of increased electron richness and desymmetrization, a specific μ_3-oxo moiety of the Mn_3CaO_4 unit becomes more basic allowing for selective protonation. Coordination of a fifth metal ion, Ag+, to the same site gives a Mn_3CaAgO_4 cluster that models the topology of the OEC by displaying both a cubane motif and a “dangler” transition metal. The present synthetic strategy provides a rational roadmap for accessing more accurate models of the biological catalyst

Soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy of metalloproteins and high-valent metal-complexes at room temperature using free-electron lasers

X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the L-edge of 3d transition metals provides unique information on the local metal charge and spin states by directly probing 3d-derived molecular orbitals through 2p-3d transitions. However, this soft x-ray technique has been rarely used at synchrotron facilities for mechanistic studies of metalloenzymes due to the difficulties of x-ray-induced sample damage and strong background signals from light elements that can dominate the low metal signal. Here, we combine femtosecond soft x-ray pulses from a free-electron laser with a novel x-ray fluorescence-yield spectrometer to overcome these difficulties. We present L-edge absorption spectra of inorganic high-valent Mn complexes (Mn ∼ 6–15 mmol/l) with no visible effects of radiation damage. We also present the first L-edge absorption spectra of the oxygen evolving complex (Mn_4CaO_5) in Photosystem II (Mn < 1 mmol/l) at room temperature, measured under similar conditions. Our approach opens new ways to study metalloenzymes under functional conditions

Role of oxido incorporation and ligand lability in expanding redox accessibility of structurally related Mn4 clusters

Photosystem II supports four manganese centers through nine oxidation states from manganese(II) during assembly through to the most oxidized state before O_2 formation and release. The protein-based carboxylate and imidazole ligands allow for significant changes of the coordination environment during the incorporation of hydroxido and oxido ligands upon oxidation of the metal centers. We report the synthesis and characterization of a series of tetramanganese complexes in four of the six oxidation states from Mn^(II)_(3)Mn^III to Mn^(III)_(2)Mn^(IV)_2 with the same ligand framework (L) by incorporating four oxido ligands. A 1,3,5-triarylbenzene framework appended with six pyridyl and three alkoxy groups was utilized along with three acetate anions to access tetramanganese complexes, Mn_(4)O_x, with x = 1, 2, 3, and 4. Alongside two previously reported complexes, four new clusters in various states were isolated and characterized by crystallography, and four were observed electrochemically, thus accessing the eight oxidation states from Mn^(II)_4 to Mn^(III)Mn^(IV)_3. This structurally related series of compounds was characterized by EXAFS, XANES, EPR, magnetism, and cyclic voltammetry. Similar to the ligands in the active site of the protein, the ancillary ligand (L) is preserved throughout the series and changes its binding mode between the low and high oxido-content clusters. Implications for the rational assembly and properties of high oxidation state metal–oxido clusters are presented