To develop highly efficient molecular photocatalysts for visible light-driven hydrogen production, a thorough understanding of the photophysical and chemical processes in the photocatalyst is of vital importance. In this context, in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopic (XAS) investigations show that the nature of the catalytically active metal center in a (N^N)MCl2 (M=Pd or Pt) coordination sphere has a significant impact on the mechanism of the hydrogen formation. Pd as the catalytic center showed a substantially altered chemical environment and a formation of metal colloids during catalysis, whereas no changes of the coordination sphere were observed for Pt as catalytic center. The high stability of the Pt center was confirmed by chloride addition and mercury poisoning experiments. Thus, for Pt a fundamentally different catalytic mechanism without the involvement of colloids is confirmed.

SummaryIn Bacillus subtilis, the transcription factor PerR is an iron dependant sensor of H2O2. The sensing mechanism relies on a selective metal catalysed oxidation of two histidine residues of the regulatory site. Here we present the first crystal structure of the active PerR protein in complex with a Mn 2+ ion. In addition, X-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments were performed to characterize the corresponding iron form of the protein. Both studies reveal a penta-coordinate arrangement of the regulatory site that involves three histidines and two aspartates. One of the histidine ligand belongs to the N-terminal domain. Binding of this residue to the regulatory metal allows the protein to adopt a caliper-like conformation suited to DNA binding. Since this histidine is conserved in all PerR and a vast majority of Fur proteins, it is likely that the allosteric switch induced by the regulatory metal is general for this family of metalloregulators.

No abstract

We propose a model for the Fe atomic displacements in the low-temperature phase of magnetite ͑Fe 3 O 4 ͒, based on the analysis of the photon energy dependence of the scattered intensity of selected reflections in a resonant x-ray scattering experiment. The symmetry of the displacement pattern is forced to be consistent with the Cc space group, long time claimed to be the actual symmetry of the low-temperature phase. Fe positions at octahedral sites and the corresponding charges are accounted for by a fitting procedure comparing simulations and experiment. We found a pattern of small distortions in the a-b plane. An independent sensitivity to the charge occupancy permits to refine the model of charge ordering previously proposed. Finally we have computed the electric moment of the combined charge displacements to be 1.5 C / cm 2 .

Für die Entwicklung hocheffizienter molekularer Photokatalysatoren zur Wasserstoffproduktion mit sichtbarem Licht ist ein Verständnis der elektronischen und chemischen Prozesse im Photokatalysator von wesentlicher Bedeutung. In‐situ‐Röntgenabsorptionsspektroskopie (XAS) zeigte hierbei, dass die Art des katalytisch aktiven Metallzentrums in einer (N^N)MCl2‐Koordinationssphäre (M=Pd oder Pt) wesentlichen Einfluss auf den Mechanismus der Wasserstoffproduktion hat. Während Pd als Metallzentrum eine signifikante Veränderung der chemischen Umgebung und die Ausbildung von metallischen Kolloiden aufweist, zeigt Pt als Katalysezentrum keinerlei Veränderung der Koordinationssphäre unter katalytischen Bedingungen. Dieser Befund wird durch die Unabhängigkeit der Katalyse von Chloridionenzusatz und dem Quecksilbertest gestützt. Hieraus kann ein vollständig anderer Katalysemechanismus ohne Beteiligung von Kolloiden abgeleitet werden.