X-ray edge absorption of copper and extended fine structure studies of both copper and iron centers have been made of cytochrome oxidase from beef heart, Paracoccus dentrificans, and HB-8 thermophilic bacteria (1-2.5 mM in heme). The desired redox state (fully oxidized, reduced CO, mixed valence formate and CO) in the x-ray beam was controlled by low temperature (-140 degrees C) and was continuously monitored by simultaneous optical spectroscopy and by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) monitoring every 30 min of x-ray exposure. The structure of the active site, a cytochrome a3-copper pair in fully oxidized and in mixed valence formate states where they are spin coupled, contains a sulphur bridge with three ligands 2.60 +/- 0.03 A from Fea3 and 2.18 +/- 0.03 A from Cua3. The distance between Fea3 and Cua3 is 3.75 +/- 0.05 A, making the sulphur bond angle 103 degrees reasonable for sp3 sulphur bonding. The Fea3 first shell has four typical heme nitrogens (2.01 +/- 0.03 A) with a proximal nitrogen at 2.14 +/- 0.03 A. The sixth ligand is the bridging sulphur. The Cua3 first shell is identical to oxidized stellacyanin containing two nitrogens and a bridging sulphur. Upon reduction with CO, the active site is identical to reduced stellacyanin for the Cua3 first shell and contains the sulphur that forms the bridge in fully oxidized and mixed valence formate states. The Fea3 first shell is identical to oxyhemoglobin but has CO instead of O2. The other redox centers, Fea and the other "EPR detectable" Cu are not observed in higher shells of Fea3. Fea has six equidistant nitrogens and Cua has one (or two) nitrogens and three (or two) sulphurs with typical distances; these ligands change only slight on reduction. These structures afford the basis for an oxygen reduction mechanism involving oxy- and peroxy intermediates.

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Cytochrome c oxidase catalyses the 4-electron reduction of dioxygen to water and translocates protons vectorially across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Proposed reaction pathways for the catalytic cycle of the O2 reduction are difficult to verify without knowing the structures of the intermediates, but we now have such information for the catalytic intermediates in the first steps of the reaction of O2 with cytochrome c oxidase from resonance Raman spectroscopy, a technique that enables iron-ligand stretching modes to be identified. Here we report on two more key intermediates: a ferryl-oxo (Fe4 = O2-) and a ferric-hydroxy (Fe3+--OH-) intermediate at the level of 3- and 4-electron reduction, respectively. We identified these intermediates by their characteristic iron-oxygen stretching frequencies (786 cm-1 for Fe4+ = O2-, and 450 cm-1 for Fe3+ -- OH-) and oxygen and deuterium isotope shifts. The oxo atom in the ferryl intermediate is hydrogen-bonded and the iron-oxygen bond in the hydroxy intermediate is anomalously weak. With the identification of the primary, ferryl and hydroxy intermediates, the predominant structures at almost all stages of O2 reduction are now known and the catalytic pathway can be described with more certainty.

Reduced cyanide-bound cytochrome oxidase in the absence of any oxygen gives a resonance Raman spectrum consistent with that expected for low-spin heme a. Thus, in contrast to prior reports, ligand binding of cytochrome a3 to form a six-coordinate low-spin ferrous heme does not result in any unusual electronic structure, hydrogen bonding, environment, or conformation of the formyl group. It appears unlikely that there are any changes in this group in cytochrome a3 that control the ligand affinity or redox potential in physiological forms of the ferrous enzyme. With the use of our difference spectrometer and by appropriately selecting the laser excitation frequency, we are able to isolate spectrally cytochromes a2+, a3(2+), and a3(2+)(CN-). The addition of a small amount of oxygen to a preparation of the cyanide-bound reduced enzyme results in a complex with the same Raman spectrum as that previously reported to originate from the cyanide-bound reduced complex. Any oxygen present in the sample leads to enzyme turnover resulting in a mixed valence state [a2+a3(3+)(CN-)]. The comparison between the data on the cyanide-bound reduced enzyme and the data on the CO-bound reduced enzyme illustrates that cyanide binding affects only the modes that respond to the spin state of the ferrous iron, while CO binding affects vibrational modes that respond to a pi-electron density change as well.

The primary intermediate in the reaction of oxygen with cytochrome c oxidase was generated by photodissociating carbon monoxide in a continuous flow rapid mixing apparatus. The presence of the primary intermediate was confirmed by a comparison of the iron-dioxygen stretching frequency with that obtained in the reaction of oxygen with the mixed-valence enzyme. For both of these preparations, the