The frequent occurrence of the cuboidal cluster
[Fe3S4(S·Cys)3] in a
variety of proteins has prompted
extensive investigation of its chemical and biological properties.
The biological function remains in question, but
the cluster is known to sustain two reactions: (i) electron transfer,
and (ii) heterometal ion incorporation. The
recent preparation of
[Fe3S4(LS3)]3-
(3) [Zhou, J.; Hu, Z.; Münck, E.; Holm, R. H.
J. Am. Chem. Soc.
1996,
118,
1966] has permitted detailed structural, electronic, and reactivity
characterization of the cuboidal
[Fe3S4]0 oxidation
state (LS3 =
1,3,5-tris((4,6-dimethyl-3-mercaptophenyl)thio)-2,4,6-tris(p-tolylthio)benzene(3−).
Redox properties
(i) have been reported previously: here reaction type (ii), resulting
in the formation of cubane-type MFe3S4
clusters,
has been investigated. Reaction of 3 with
[M(PPh3)4]1+ affords
[(Ph3P)MFe3S4(LS3)]2-
(M = Cu (6), Ag (8)) while
[(NC)M(PPh3)3] leads to
[(NC)MFe3S4(LS3)]3-
(M = Cu (7), Ag (9)). Treatment of
3 with Tl(O3SCF3)
yields
[TlFe3S4(LS3)]2-
(10). The fragment formalism {M1+ +
[Fe3S4]0} applies to
6−10, which retain the S = 2
ground
state of 3. Reaction of 3 with
[M(PPh3)3Cl] yields
[(Ph3P)MFe3S4(LS3)]2-
(M = Co (12), Ni (14)) in
inner-sphere
redox reactions. Clusters 12 (S = 1) and
14 (S = 3/2) are
formulated as {M2+ +
[Fe3S4]1-};
antiferromagnetic
coupling of fragment spins gives rise to the indicated spin ground
states. The reactions (ii) are metal-ion
incorporation
processes, a new reaction type in Fe−S chemistry. Previously,
all cubane-type MFe3S4 clusters had been
synthesized
by spontaneous self-assembly or reductive rearrangement reactions.
Cluster 7 exhibits reversible oxidation
and
reduction reactions; it is the only cluster that forms a stable
oxidized product containing the
[Fe3S4]1+ fragment.
All
other clusters show a reversible reduction and an irreversible or
quasireversible oxidation. Potentials of the
synthetic
clusters are considered intrinsic to the various core units, being less
influenced by environmental factors than are
those in proteins. At parity of cluster charge and terminal
ligation, the potential order is M = Fe < Co < Ni and
Co < Ni < Cu < Ag < Tl for the
[MFe3S4]2+,1+ and
[MFe3S4]1+,0 core redox
reactions. These orders are compared
with those determined in proteins.