New insight into metalloporphyrin excited state structures and axial ligand binding from X-ray transient absorption spectroscopic studies

Megan L. Shelby, Michael W. Mara, Lin X. Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metalloporphyrin axial ligation is an important process in catalysis and the enzymatic chemistry of proteins and is metal center dependent. Direct structural dynamics measurements on different metalloporphyrins using X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy (XTA) have brought new insight into this extensively studied process. This review uses two representative open shell metalloporphyrins, nickel tetramesitylporphyrin (NiTMP) and iron protoporphyrin (FePP), to demonstrate the capability of XTA in resolving both electronic and nuclear structures of these porphyrins in axial ligation processes. A surprisingly broad 3d orbital energy level distribution has been related to differences in the conformational distribution of NiTMP in the ground and excited state, which suggests a unified mechanism for axial ligation in open shell metalloporphyrins driven by transient vacancies in the 3dz2 orbital, which is aligned with the axial ligation coordinate. XTA studies also show that dynamic and structural differences in the CO dissociation process are influenced by the metal site environments, demonstrated by the comparison of FePP in solution and heme in myoglobin. These results imply a porphyrin conformational control of ligation and therefore insight into metalloporphyrin catalyst design involving control the axial ligation/deligation processes as well as deduction of enzymatic regulation of ligand binding.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)291-299
Number of pages9
JournalCoordination Chemistry Reviews
Volume277
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2014

Keywords

  • Catalysis
  • Excited state molecular structures
  • Hemeproteins
  • Metalloporphyrins
  • Photodissociation of the ligand
  • X-ray transient absorption

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Materials Chemistry

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