Paola D'Angelo

Hydration of lanthanoids(III) and actinoids(III): an experimental/theoretical saga.

The latest experimental and theoretical studies on structural and dynamical properties of lanthanoid(III) and actinoid(III) ions in water have been reviewed. In the last years, most of the issues about lanthanoid(III) hydration have been resolved combining X-ray absorption experiments and different theoretical methods. Since 2008 an effort has been made to treat the entire series thus obtaining coherent sets of experimental and theoretical results that were lately put together in such a way that it was possible to derive new basic properties, such as effective ionic radii, across the series. While for the hydration of lanthanoids(III) many experiments and simulations have been reported, the hydration of actinoids(III) was less investigated. There are some experiments performed by different research groups and few simulations that we discuss in this review. Currently, there are enough results that it is possible to gain some understanding of the hydration behavior of lanthanoids(III) and actinoids(III). The ultimate goal of this review is to provide clues on the analogies and differences between the two series. These aspects are connected to several issues: 1) technological: the separation of these elements that is necessary for recycling and stocking of nuclear waste, 2) practical: because experiments on actinoids need particular care, the definition of possible analogies will give the possibility to use the correct lanthanoid when the information on a specific actinoid is needed, 3) fundamental: related to chemical similarities between the two series.

Analysis of the detailed configuration of hydrated lanthanoid(III) ions in aqueous solution and crystalline salts by using K- And L3-edge XANES spectroscopy

The structural properties of the hydrated lanthanoid(III) ions in aqueous solution and in the isostructural trifluoromethanesulfonate salts have been investigated by a quantitative analysis of the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra at the K- and L(3)-edges. The XANES analysis has provided a clear description of the variation of lanthanoid(III) hydration properties across the series. It was found that all of the lanthanoid(III) hydration complexes retain a tricapped trigonal prism (TTP) geometry, and along the series two of the capping water molecules become less and less strongly bound, before finally, on average, one of them leaves the hydration cluster. This gives rise to an eight-coordinated distorted bicapped trigonal prism with two different Ln--O capping distances for the smallest lanthanoid(III) ions. This systematic study has shown that for lanthanoid compounds more accurate structural information is obtained from the analysis of the L(3)-edge than from K-edge XANES data. Moreover, whereas the second hydration shells provide a detectable contribution to the L(3)-edge XANES spectra of the lighter lanthanoid ions, the K-edge spectra are insensitive to the more distant coordination spheres.

Structural and Dynamical Properties of the Hg2+ Aqua Ion: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Molecular dynamics simulations of the Hg2+ ion in aqueous solution have been carried out using an effective two-body potential derived from quantum mechanical calculations. A stable heptacoordinated structure of the Hg2+ first hydration shell has been observed and confirmed by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) experimental data. The structural properties of the Hg2+ hydration shells have been investigated using radial and angular distribution functions, while the dynamical behavior has been discussed in terms of reorientational correlation functions, mean residence times of water molecules in the first and second hydration shells, and self-diffusion coefficients. The effect of water-water interactions on the Hg2+ hydration properties has been evaluated using the SPC/E and TIP5P water models.

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy of Hemes and Hemeproteins in Solution: Multiple Scattering Analysis

A full quantitative analysis of Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectra has been performed for hemes in two porphynato complexes, that is, iron(III) tetraphenylporphyrin chloride (Fe(III)TPPCl) and iron(III) tetraphenylporphyrin bis(imidazole) (Fe(III)TPP(Imid)2), in two protein complexes whose X-ray structure is known at atomic resolution (1.0 A), that is, ferrous deoxy-myoglobin (Fe(II)Mb) and ferric aquo-myoglobin (Fe(III)MbH2O), and in ferric cyano-myoglobin (Fe(III)MbCN), whose X-ray structure is known at lower resolution (1.4 A). The analysis has been performed via the multiple scattering approach, starting from a muffin tin approximation of the molecular potential. The Fe-heme structure has been obtained by analyzing independently the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) region and the X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) region. The EXAFS structural results are in full agreement with the crystallographic values of the models, with an accuracy of +/- 0.02 A for Fe-ligand distances, and +/-6 degrees for angular parameters. All the XANES features above the theoretical zero energy (in the lower rising edge) are well accounted for by single-channel calculations, for both Fe(II) and Fe(III) hemes, and the Fe-N p distance is determined with the same accuracy as EXAFS. XANES evaluations of Fe-5th and Fe-6th ligand distances are determined with 0.04-0.07 A accuracy; a small discrepancy with EXAFS (0.01 to 0.05 A beyond the statistical error), is found for protein compounds. Concerns from statistical correlation among parameters and multiple minima in the parameter space are discussed. As expected, the XANES accuracy is slightly lower than what was found for polarized XANES on Fe(III)MbCN single crystal (0.03-0.04 A), and states the actual state-of-the-art of XANES analysis when used to extract heme-normal parameters in a solution spectrum dominated by heme-plane scattering.

Hydration properties and ionic radii of actinide(III) ions in aqueous solution

Ionic radii of actinide(III) cations (from U(III) to Cf(III)) in aqueous solution have been derived for the first time starting from accurate experimental determination of the ion-water distances obtained by combining extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) results and molecular dynamics (MD) structural data. A strong analogy has been found between the lanthanide and actinide series concerning hydration properties. The existence of a contraction of the An-O distance along the series has been highlighted, while no decrease of the hydration number is evident up to Cf(III).

Triplet correlations in the hydration shell of aquaions

Abstract The presence of angular O—ion—O correlations in the hydration shell of dilute water solutions of Cu 2+ and Br − is investigated by means of an X-ray absorption experiment. An advanced data analysis including multiple-scattering effects poroduced quantitative information on these triplet correlations; the complementarity with X-ray and neutron diffraction is discussed. The experimental spectra indicate that Cu 2+ has a Jahn—Teller distorted octahedral coordination, while the hydration shell of Br − is more disordered and substantially dominated by excluded volume effects.

An X-Ray Diffraction and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Joint Study of Neuroglobin.

Neuroglobin (Ngb) is a member of the globin family expressed in the vertebrate brain, involved in neuroprotection. A combined approach of X-ray diffraction (XRD) on single crystal and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in solution, allows to determine the oxidation state and the structure of the Fe-heme both in the bis-histidine and the CO-bound (NgbCO) states. The overall data demonstrate that under X-ray the iron is photoreduced fairly rapidly, and that the previously reported X-ray structure of ferric Ngb [B. Vallone, K. Nienhaus, M. Brunori, G.U. Nienhaus, Proteins 56 (2004) 85-92] very likely refers to a photoreduced species indistinguishable from the dithionite reduced protein. Results from the XAS analysis of NgbCO in solution are in good agreement with XRD data on the crystal. However prolonged X-ray exposure at 15K determines CO release. This preliminary result paves the way to experiments aimed at the characterization of pentacoordinate ferrous Ngb, the only species competent in binding external ligands such as O2, CO or NO.

Cuprizone neurotoxicity, copper deficiency and neurodegeneration

Cuprizone is used to obtain demyelination in mice. Cuprizone-treated mice show symptoms similar to several neurodegenerative disorders such as severe status spongiosus. Although it has a simple chemical formula, its neurotoxic mechanism is still unknown. In this work, we examined both physico-chemical properties and biological effects of cuprizone. Our results indicate that cuprizone has very complicated and misunderstood solution chemistry. Moreover, we show here the inability of cuprizone to cross neither the intestinal epithelial barrier nor the neuronal cell membrane, as well its high tolerability by cultured neurons. If added to mice diet, cuprizone does not accumulate in liver or in brain. Therefore, its neurotoxic effect is explainable only in terms of its capability to chelate copper, leading to chronic copper deficiency.

Dynamic Investigation of Protein Metal Active Sites: Interplay of XANES and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The effect of structural disorder on the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectrum of a heme protein has been investigated using the dynamical description of the system derived from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The XANES spectra of neuroglobin (Ngb) and carbonmonoxy-neuroglobin (NgbCO) have been quantitatively reproduced, starting from the MD geometrical configurations, without carrying out any optimization in the structural parameter space. These results provide an important experimental validation of the reliability of the potentials used in the MD simulations and accordingly corroborate the consistency of the structural dynamic information on the metal center, related to its biological function. This analysis allowed us to demonstrate that the configurational disorder associated with the distortion of the heme plane and with the different orientations of the axial ligands can affect the XANES features at very low energy. Neglecting configurational disorder in the XANES quantitative analysis of heme proteins is a source of systematic errors in the determination of Fe coordination geometry. The combined use of XANES and MD is a novel strategy to enhance the resolution and reliability of the structural information obtained on metalloproteins, making the combination of these techniques powerful for metalloprotein investigations.

Unusual Heme Binding Properties of the Dissimilative Nitrate Respiration Regulator, a Bacterial Nitric Oxide Sensor

AIMS In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, nitric oxide (NO) triggers the respiration of nitrate (denitrification), thus allowing survival in chronic infection sites as a microaerobic-anaerobic biofilm. The NO-dependent induction of denitrification is mediated by the dissimilative nitrate respiration regulator (DNR), a transcription factor forming a stable complex with heme, which is required to sense the physiological messenger (i.e., NO). The molecular details of NO sensing in DNR and, more in general, in this class of sensors are largely unknown, and a study aimed at integrating microbiology and biochemistry is needed. RESULTS Here we present a comprehensive study, including in vivo results and spectroscopy, kinetics, and protein engineering, that demonstrates the direct involvement of a histidine residue in heme iron coordination. Moreover, a peculiar phenomenon of ligand switching around heme iron, which hampers the identification of the second heme axial ligand, is also suggested. These results indicate that DNR is characterized by a remarkable flexibility in solution, as observed for other cAMP receptor protein/fumarate and nitrate reductase regulators (CRP-FNR) to which DNR belongs. INNOVATION The present work represents one of the few studies focused on the biochemistry of NO sensing by bacterial transcriptional regulators. The data presented demonstrate that structural plasticity of DNR is crucial for the sensing activity and confers to the protein unusual heme binding properties. CONCLUSIONS Protein flexibility and dynamics is a key structural feature essential to explain the evolutionary success and adaptability of CRP-FNR, and may represent a common strategy employed by heme-based redox sensors, which presents features deeply different from those of canonical hemeproteins.