Inside Cover: Protonation of a Biologically Relevant Cu^II μ‐Thiolate Complex: Ligand Dissociation or Formation of a Protonated Cu^I Disulfide Species? (Chem. Eur. J. 51/2014)

Abstract

Protonation of a CuII μ‐thiolate complex induces an internal redox reaction by which a CuI disulfide compound is formed. The dinuclear CuII μ‐thiolate species forms a model for the CuA site, which has been shown to be sensitive to pH changes. In their Full Paper on C. Fonseca Guerra, E. Bouwman et al. show, both experimentally and computationally, that, after addition of just one equivalent of acid per copper center, not only does this redox reaction occur, but ligand dissociation takes place as well. The results imply that pH can have a tremendous effect on the coordination environment of the metal center.