Herein, Ca K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is developed as a means to characterize the local environment of calcium centers. The spectra for six, seven, and eight coordinate inorganic and molecular calcium complexes were analyzed and determined to be primarily influenced by the coordination environment and site symmetry at the calcium center. The experimental results are closely correlated to time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations of the XAS spectra. The applicability of this methodology to complex systems was investigated using structural mimics of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of PSII. It was found that Ca K-edge XAS is a sensitive probe for structural changes occurring in the cubane heterometallic cluster due to Mn oxidation. Future applications to the OEC are discussed.

Disulfide/thiolate interconversion supported by transition-metal ions is proposed to be implicated in fundamental biological processes, such as the transport of metal ions or the regulation of the production of reactive oxygen species. We report herein a mononuclear dithiolate Co(III) complex, [Co(III)LS(Cl)] (1; LS=sulfur containing ligand), that undergoes a clean, fast, quantitative and reversible Co(II) disulfide/Co(III) thiolate interconversion mediated by a chloride anion. The removal of Cl(-) from the Co(III) complex leads to the formation of a bis(μ-thiolato) μ-disulfido dicobalt(II) complex, [Co2(II,II)LSSL](2+) (2(2+)). The structures of both complexes have been resolved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction; their magnetic, spectroscopic, and redox properties investigated together with DFT calculations. This system is a unique example of metal-based switchable M(n)2-RSSR/2 M((n+1))-SR (M=metal ion, n=oxidation state) system that does not contain copper, acts under aerobic conditions, and involves systems with different nuclearities.