Britt Hedman

A codeposition route to CuI-pyridine coordination complexes for organic light-emitting diodes.

We demonstrate a new approach for utilizing CuI coordination complexes as emissive layers in organic light-emitting diodes that involves in situ codeposition of CuI and 3,5-bis(carbazol-9-yl)pyridine (mCPy). With a simple three-layer device structure, pure green electroluminescence at 530 nm from a Cu(I) complex was observed. A maximum luminance and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 9700 cd/m(2) and 4.4%, respectively, were achieved. The luminescent species was identified as [CuI(mCPy)(2)](2) on the basis of photophysical studies of model complexes and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Structure and reactivity of a mononuclear non-haem iron( III )–peroxo complex

Oxygen-containing mononuclear iron species—iron(iii)–peroxo, iron(iii)–hydroperoxo and iron(iv)–oxo—are key intermediates in the catalytic activation of dioxygen by iron-containing metalloenzymes. It has been difficult to generate synthetic analogues of these three active iron–oxygen species in identical host complexes, which is necessary to elucidate changes to the structure of the iron centre during catalysis and the factors that control their chemical reactivities with substrates. Here we report the high-resolution crystal structure of a mononuclear non-haem side-on iron(iii)–peroxo complex, [Fe(iii)(TMC)(OO)]+. We also report a series of chemical reactions in which this iron(iii)–peroxo complex is cleanly converted to the iron(iii)–hydroperoxo complex, [Fe(iii)(TMC)(OOH)]2+, via a short-lived intermediate on protonation. This iron(iii)–hydroperoxo complex then cleanly converts to the ferryl complex, [Fe(iv)(TMC)(O)]2+, via homolytic O–O bond cleavage of the iron(iii)–hydroperoxo species. All three of these iron species—the three most biologically relevant iron–oxygen intermediates—have been spectroscopically characterized; we note that they have been obtained using a simple macrocyclic ligand. We have performed relative reactivity studies on these three iron species which reveal that the iron(iii)–hydroperoxo complex is the most reactive of the three in the deformylation of aldehydes and that it has a similar reactivity to the iron(iv)–oxo complex in C–H bond activation of alkylaromatics. These reactivity results demonstrate that iron(iii)–hydroperoxo species are viable oxidants in both nucleophilic and electrophilic reactions by iron-containing enzymes.

Solvent Tuning of Electrochemical Potentials in the Active Sites of HiPIP Versus Ferredoxin

A persistent puzzle in the field of biological electron transfer is the conserved iron-sulfur cluster motif in both high potential iron-sulfur protein (HiPIP) and ferredoxin (Fd) active sites. Despite this structural similarity, HiPIPs react oxidatively at physiological potentials, whereas Fds are reduced. Sulfur K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy uncovers the substantial influence of hydration on this variation in reactivity. Fe-S covalency is much lower in natively hydrated Fd active sites than in HiPIPs but increases upon water removal; similarly, HiPIP covalency decreases when unfolding exposes an otherwise hydrophobically shielded active site to water. Studies on model compounds and accompanying density functional theory calculations support a correlation of Fe-S covalency with ease of oxidation and therefore suggest that hydration accounts for most of the difference between Fd and HiPIP reduction potentials.

Spectroscopic and computational insight into the activation of O2 by the mononuclear Cu center in polysaccharide monooxygenases

Significance Activation of the O-O bond in dioxygen is difficult but fundamental in biology. Nature has evolved several strategies to achieve this, often including copper as an enzyme cofactor. Copper-dependent enzymes usually use more than one metal to activate O2 by multielectron reduction, but recently it was discovered that cellulose and chitin degrading polysaccharide monooxygenase enzymes use only a single Cu center for catalysis, in a reaction that is of great interest to the biofuel industries. To understand this reactivity, we have determined the solution structures of both the reduced and oxidized Cu site, and determined experimentally and computationally how this site is capable of facile O2 activation by a thermodynamically difficult one-electron reduction, via an inner-sphere Cu-superoxide intermediate. Strategies for O2 activation by copper enzymes were recently expanded to include mononuclear Cu sites, with the discovery of the copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases, also classified as auxiliary-activity enzymes 9–11 (AA9-11). These enzymes are finding considerable use in industrial biofuel production. Crystal structures of polysaccharide monooxygenases have emerged, but experimental studies are yet to determine the solution structure of the Cu site and how this relates to reactivity. From X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopies, we observed a change from four-coordinate Cu(II) to three-coordinate Cu(I) of the active site in solution, where three protein-derived nitrogen ligands coordinate the Cu in both redox states, and a labile hydroxide ligand is lost upon reduction. The spectroscopic data allowed for density functional theory calculations of an enzyme active site model, where the optimized Cu(I) and (II) structures were consistent with the experimental data. The O2 reactivity of the Cu(I) site was probed by EPR and stopped-flow absorption spectroscopies, and a rapid one-electron reduction of O2 and regeneration of the resting Cu(II) enzyme were observed. This reactivity was evaluated computationally, and by calibration to Cu-superoxide model complexes, formation of an end-on Cu-AA9-superoxide species was found to be thermodynamically favored. We discuss how this thermodynamically difficult one-electron reduction of O2 is enabled by the unique protein structure where two nitrogen ligands from His1 dictate formation of a T-shaped Cu(I) site, which provides an open coordination position for strong O2 binding with very little reorganization energy.

Goniometer-based femtosecond crystallography with X-ray free electron lasers

Significance The extremely short and bright X-ray pulses produced by X-ray free-electron lasers unlock new opportunities in crystallography-based structural biology research. Efficient methods to deliver crystalline material are necessary due to damage or destruction of the crystal by the X-ray pulse. Crystals for the first experiments were 5 µm or smaller in size, delivered by a liquid injector. We describe a highly automated goniometer-based approach, compatible with crystals of larger and varied sizes, and accessible at cryogenic or ambient temperatures. These methods, coupled with improvements in data-processing algorithms, have resulted in high-resolution structures, unadulterated by the effects of radiation exposure, from only 100 to 1,000 diffraction images. The emerging method of femtosecond crystallography (FX) may extend the diffraction resolution accessible from small radiation-sensitive crystals and provides a means to determine catalytically accurate structures of acutely radiation-sensitive metalloenzymes. Automated goniometer-based instrumentation developed for use at the Linac Coherent Light Source enabled efficient and flexible FX experiments to be performed on a variety of sample types. In the case of rod-shaped Cpl hydrogenase crystals, only five crystals and about 30 min of beam time were used to obtain the 125 still diffraction patterns used to produce a 1.6-Å resolution electron density map. For smaller crystals, high-density grids were used to increase sample throughput; 930 myoglobin crystals mounted at random orientation inside 32 grids were exposed, demonstrating the utility of this approach. Screening results from cryocooled crystals of β2-adrenoreceptor and an RNA polymerase II complex indicate the potential to extend the diffraction resolution obtainable from very radiation-sensitive samples beyond that possible with undulator-based synchrotron sources.

Structural insights into a protein-bound iron-molybdenum cofactor precursor

The iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco) of the nitrogenase MoFe protein is a highly complex metallocluster that provides the catalytically essential site for biological nitrogen fixation. FeMoco is assembled outside the MoFe protein in a stepwise process requiring several components, including NifB-co, an iron- and sulfur-containing FeMoco precursor, and NifEN, an intermediary assembly protein on which NifB-co is presumably converted to FeMoco. Through the comparison of Azotobacter vinelandii strains expressing the NifEN protein in the presence or absence of the nifB gene, the structure of a NifEN-bound FeMoco precursor has been analyzed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results provide physical evidence to support a mechanism for FeMoco biosynthesis. The NifEN-bound precursor is found to be a molybdenum-free analog of FeMoco and not one of the more commonly suggested cluster types based on a standard [4Fe–4S] architecture. A facile scheme by which FeMoco and alternative, non-molybdenum-containing nitrogenase cofactors are constructed from this common precursor is presented that has important implications for the biosynthesis and biomimetic chemical synthesis of FeMoco.

X-ray-induced photo-chemistry and X-ray absorption spectroscopy of biological samples

As synchrotron light sources and optics deliver greater photon flux on samples, X-ray-induced photo-chemistry is increasingly encountered in X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments. The resulting problems are particularly pronounced for biological XAS experiments. This is because biological samples are very often quite dilute and therefore require signal averaging to achieve adequate signal-to-noise ratios, with correspondingly greater exposures to the X-ray beam. This paper reviews the origins of photo-reduction and photo-oxidation, the impact that they can have on active site structure, and the methods that can be used to provide relief from X-ray-induced photo-chemical artifacts.

The two oxidized forms of the trinuclear Cu cluster in the multicopper oxidases and mechanism for the decay of the native intermediate

Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) catalyze the 4e− reduction of O2 to H2O. The reaction of the fully reduced enzyme with O2 generates the native intermediate (NI), which undergoes a slow decay to the resting enzyme in the absence of substrate. NI is a fully oxidized form, but its spectral features are very different from those of the resting form (also fully oxidized), because the type 2 and the coupled-binuclear type 3 Cu centers in the O2-reducing trinuclear Cu cluster site are isolated in the resting enzyme, whereas these are all bridged by a μ3-oxo ligand in NI. Notably, the one azide-bound NI (NIAz) exhibits spectral features very similar to those of NI, in which the μ3-oxo ligand in NI has been replaced by a μ3-bridged azide. Comparison of the spectral features of NI and NIAz, combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, allows refinement of the NI structure. The decay of NI to the resting enzyme proceeds via successive proton-assisted steps, whereas the rate-limiting step involves structural rearrangement of the μ3-oxo-bridge from inside to outside the cluster. This phenomenon is consistent with the slow rate of NI decay that uncouples the resting enzyme from the catalytic cycle, leaving NI as the catalytically relevant fully oxidized form of the MCO active site. The all-bridged structure of NI would facilitate electron transfer to all three Cu centers of the trinuclear cluster for rapid proton-coupled reduction of NI to the fully reduced form for catalytic turnover.

PySpline: A Modern, Cross-Platform Program for the Processing of Raw Averaged XAS Edge and EXAFS Data

PySpline is a modern computer program for processing raw averaged XAS and EXAFS data using an intuitive approach which allows the user to see the immediate effect of various processing parameters on the resulting k‐ and R‐space data. The Python scripting language and Qt and Qwt widget libraries were chosen to meet the design requirement that it be cross‐platform (i.e. versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux). PySpline supports polynomial pre‐ and post‐edge background subtraction, splining of the EXAFS region with a multi‐segment polynomial spline, and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the resulting k3‐weighted EXAFS data.

Characterization of Isolated Nitrogenase FeVco

The cofactors of the Mo- and V-nitrogenases (i.e., FeMoco and FeVco) are homologous metal centers with distinct catalytic properties. So far, there has been only one report on the isolation of FeVco from Azotobacter chroococcum. However, this isolated FeVco species did not carry the full substrate-reducing capacity, as it is unable to restore the N(2)-reducing ability of the cofactor-deficient MoFe protein. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a fully active species of FeVco from A. vinelandii. Our metal and activity analyses show that FeVco has been extracted intact, carrying with it the characteristic capacity to reduce C(2)H(2) to C(2)H(6) and, perhaps even more importantly, the ability to reduce N(2) to NH(3). Moreover, our EPR and XAS/EXAFS investigations indicate that FeVco is similar to, yet distinct from FeMoco in electronic properties and structural topology, which could account for the differences in the reactivity of the two cofactors. The outcome of this study not only permits the proposal of the first EXAFS-based structural model of the isolated FeVco but also lays a foundation for future catalytic and structural investigations of this unique metallocluster.