A key step in dioxygen evolution during photosynthesis is the oxidative generation of the O-O bond from water by a manganese cluster consisting of M2(mu-O)2 units (where M is manganese). The reverse reaction, reductive cleavage of the dioxygen O-O bond, is performed at a variety of dicopper and di-iron active sites in enzymes that catalyze important organic oxidations. Both processes can be envisioned to involve the interconversion of dimetal-dioxygen adducts, M2(O2), and isomers having M2(mu-O)2 cores. The viability of this notion has been demonstrated by the identification of an equilibrium between synthetic complexes having [Cu2(mu-eta2:eta2-O2)]2+ and [Cu2(mu-O)2]2+ cores through kinetic, spectroscopic, and crystallographic studies.

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A description of the structure and bonding of novel bis(μ-oxo)dicopper complexes and their bis(μ-hydroxo)dicopper decomposition products was derived from combined X-ray crystallographic, spectroscopic, and ab initio theoretical studies. The compounds [(LCu)2(μ-O)2]X2 were generated from the reaction of solutions of [LCu(CH3CN)]X with O2 at −80 °C (L = 1,4,7-tribenzyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, LBn 3 ; 1,4,7-triisopropyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, LiPr 3 ; or 1-benzyl-4,7-diisopropyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, LiPr 2 Bn; X = variety of anions). The geometry of the [Cu2(μ-O)2]2+ core was defined by X-ray crystallography for [(d 21-LBn 3 Cu)2(μ-O)2](SbF6)2 and by EXAFS spectroscopy for the complexes capped by LBn 3 and LiPr 3 ; notable dimensions include short Cu−O (∼1.80 Å) and Cu···Cu (∼2.80 Å) distances like those reported for analogous M2(μ-O)2 (M = Fe or Mn) rhombs. The core geometry is contracted compared to those of the bis(μ-hydroxo)dicopper(II) compounds that result from decomposition of the bis(μ-oxo) complexes upon warming. X-ray structures of the decomposition products [(LBn 3 Cu)(LBn 2 HCu)(μ-OH)2](O3SCF3)2·2CH3CO, [(LiPr 2 HCu)2(μ-OH)2](BPh4)2·2THF, and [(LiPr 2 BnCu)2(μ-OH)2](O3SCF3)2 showed that they arise from N-dealkylation of the original capping macrocycles. Manometric, electrospray mass spectrometric, and UV−vis, EPR, NMR, and resonance Raman spectroscopic data for the bis(μ-oxo)dicopper complexes in solution revealed important topological and electronic structural features of the intact [Cu2(μ-O)2]2+ core. The bis(μ-oxo)dicopper unit is diamagnetic, undergoes a rapid fluxional process involving interchange of equatorial and axial N-donor ligand environments, and exhibits a diagnostic ∼600 cm-1 18O-sensitive feature in Raman spectra. Ab initio calculations on a model system, {[(NH3)3Cu]2(μ-O)2}2+, predicted a closed-shell singlet ground-state structure that agrees well with the bis(μ-oxo)dicopper geometry determined by experiment and helps to rationalize many of its physicochemical properties. On the basis of an analysis of the theoretical and experimental results (including a bond valence sum analysis), a formal oxidation level assignment for the core is suggested to be [CuIII 2(μ-O2-)2]2+, although a more complete molecular orbital description indicates that the oxygen and copper fragment orbitals are significantly mixed (i.e., there is a high degree of covalency).

Thiolate-ligated oxoiron(IV) centers are postulated to be the key oxidants in the catalytic cycles of oxygen-activating cytochrome P450 and related enzymes. Despite considerable synthetic efforts, chemists have not succeeded in preparing an appropriate model complex. Here we report the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of [FeIV(O)(TMCS)]+ where TMCS is a pentadentate ligand that provides a square pyramidal N4(SR)apical, where SR is thiolate, ligand environment about the iron center, which is similar to that of cytochrome P450. The rigidity of the ligand framework stabilizes the thiolate in an oxidizing environment. Reactivity studies suggest that thiolate coordination favors hydrogen-atom abstraction chemistry over oxygen-atom transfer pathways in the presence of reducing substrates.