The resonance Raman (RR) spectra of nitrophorin 1 (NP1) from the saliva of the blood-sucking insect Rhodnius prolixus, in the absence and presence of nitric oxide (NO) and in the presence of cyanide (CN(-)), have been studied. The NP1 displayed RR spectra characteristic of six-coordinate high-spin (6cHS) ferric heme at room temperature and six-coordinate low-spin heme (6cLS) at low temperature (77 K). NO and CN(-) each bind to Fe(III), both ligands forming 6cLS complexes with NP1. The Fe(III)-NO stretching and bending vibrational frequencies of nitrosyl NP1 were identified at 591 and 578 cm(-1), respectively, on the basis of 15NO isotope shifts. These frequencies are typical of Fe-NO ferric heme proteins, indicating that the NP1 nitrosyl adduct has typical bond strength. Thus, the small NO release rate displayed by NP1 must be due to other protein interactions. Room and cryogenic temperature (77 K) RR spectroscopy and 13C, 15N, and 13C15N isotope substitutions have been used to determine vibrational mode frequencies associated with the Fe(III)-CN(-) bond for the cyano adducts at 454, 443, 397, and 357 cm(-1). The results were analyzed by normal mode calculations to support the assignment of the modes and to assess the NO and CN(-) binding geometries. The observed isotope shifts for the cyano NP1 are smaller than expected and reveal vibrational coupling of Fe(III)-CN(-) modes with heme modes. We also find that the observed frequencies are consistent with the presence of a nearly linear Fe(III)CN(-) linkage (173 degrees ) coexisting with a population with a bent structure (155 degrees ).

Nickel(II) complexes of cycloalkanoporphyrins (CAPs) bearing a saturated carbon ring of varying size between pyrrole C(beta) and methine bridge carbon atoms are widespread in crude oil and related organic rich sediments. We have synthesized a series of NiCAPs containing meso,beta-ethano (NiCAP5), meso,beta-propano (NiCAP6), and meso,beta-butano (NiCAP7) groups and applied UV-visible absorption and resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopies to investigate the effects of the exocyclic ring size on the porphyrin structure and to establish vibrational CAP marker frequencies for petroporphyrins in fossil fuels. The RR spectra of NiCAPs, excited at or near porphyrin Soret ( approximately 400 nm) and Q (510-580 nm) bands are informative and display a rich array of skeletal and alkyl substituent modes. High-frequency (1300-1700 cm(-)(1)) structure-sensitive RR bands shift down considerably (up to 24 cm(-)(1)) with increasing size of the exocyclic ring, implicating increased nonplanar distortions of the tetrapyrrole macrocycle. Unlike in other petroporphyrins studied thus far, etio- and tetrahydrobenzoporphyrins, out-of-plane distortions of the porphyrin imposed by the meso,beta-cycloalkano ring are also sufficient to destroy the center of symmetry of the porphyrin pi-system and produce significant enhancement of the IR-active E(u) skeletal modes in the Q-band-excited RR spectra. The UV-visible absorption spectra also vary with the size of the exocyclic ring; both the Soret and Q bands progressively red shift as the cycloalkano chain becomes longer, implying a destabilization of the two highest occupied pi orbitals in NiCAP6 and NiCAP7. In addition, the size of the exocyclic ring in NiCAPs can be readily determined from the frequency of the approximately 900 cm(-)(1) marker band and the characteristic patterns of skeletal and substituent bands in the 700-1200 and nu(4) ( approximately 1380 cm(-)(1)) regions.