M. Torrent et al., The flexibility of carboxylate ligands in methane monooxygenase and ribonucleotide reductase: A density functional study, J PHYS CH B, 105(1), 2001, pp. 322-327
Available experimental data for the active sites of the hydroxylase compone
nt of methane monooxygenase (MMOH) and the R2 subunit of ribonucleotide red
uctase (R2) indicates high flexibility of the ligand environment of the iro
n centers in these two metalloproteins, suggesting that carboxylate ligands
may play a special role for proper enzymatic functioning. By using quantum
chemical methods, here we have investigated (1) the so-called 1,2-carbosyl
ate shift (i.e., shift of a bridging carboxylate ligand from mu -1,1 to mu
-1,2 between two metal centers), and (2) the monodentate <-> bidentate rear
rangement of terminal carboxylate ligands (bound to only one metal center),
in the reduced forms of MMOH and R2. Our results show that (i) MMOH-like a
nd R2-like structures, with a mu -1,1 and mu -1,2 bridged carboxylate ligan
d, respectively, are energetically very close; (ii) complexes with lower co
ordination numbers in the Fe-2 center are computed to be slightly more stab
le than those with higher coordination numbers, and (nl) the two studied ca
rboxylate shifts are easy processes, not only thermodynamically but also ki
netically, with activation barriers of only a few kcal/mol. Our conclusion
that the carboxylate ligands of dinuclear complexes such as MMOHred and R2(
red) are very flexible is in a good agreement with the available experiment
al data.