Iron, Manganese and Iridium Complexes From Models of RNR and Catalase to Water Oxidation

Sammanfattning: The focus of this thesis has been synthesise and study metal complexes that mimic the structure and function of the active site in two particular metalloenzymes, ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) and manganese catalase (MnCAT). These two metalloenzymes both have two transition metals ions in the cofactor: two manganese ions in MnCAT and either two iron, iron-manganese or two manganese ions in RNR.Three different ligands were synthetized to make model complexes for these cofactors. The first ligand, BPMP, can bind two metal ions and provides two symmetric pockets with two pyridine groups and one amine each, plus a phenolate group that can bridge the two metals. The second ligand DPCPMP had one carboxylate group instead of a pyridine group in one pocket, creating an asymmetric ligand, and the third ligand BPCPMP, had two carboxylate groups, one in each pocket. From the first and the second ligands it was possible to obtain six complexes: low-valent homometallic Mn/Mn and Fe/Fe complexes and a heterometallic complex for each ligand. For the third ligand, only the Fe/Fe complex was synthetized.All seven complexes were characterized by a number of spectroscopic methods. The presence of carboxylate groups in the ligand shifted the redox potential for the metal complexes towards more negative values, particularly in the case of the homometallic Fe/Fe complexes. Surprisingly, for the asymmetric ligand the placement of the metal ions in the two pockets was not dictated by the asymmetry. Additionally, the relative stability of the homometallic complexes versus the heterometallic complexes and the possibility to transform a homometallic complex into a heterometallic complex were investigated. By titrating one metal into a solution containing the other homometallic dimer it was possible to observe that Fe2+ added to a solution of a Mn/Mn complex led to the replacement of one Mn ion in the complex with a Fe ion.The manganese complex of DPCPMP was investigated as a functional model for MnCAT, catalysing the disproportionation of H2O2 to oxygen and water. In the presence of H2O2 this complex also forms a high-valent species with a di-µ-oxo bridge similar to the MnCAT and RNR.Finally, the methodology used for the study of these complexes was also applied to a set of Ir complexes that act as water oxidation catalysts, and we could show that the presence of a pendant group stabilizes the metal at higher oxidation states leading to higher activity for the catalyst.