The present paper describes the oxygen incorporation into naphthalene and anthracene by H2O2-driven microperoxidase-8, forming A-naphthol and anthraquinone, respectively. Microperoxidase-8 is a minienzyme containing a histidinyl-coordinated Fe 3ϩ -protoporphyrin IX cofactor covalently attached to an eight-amino-acid peptide.Additional experiments were performed to investigate whether the reaction mechanism involved is like that of peroxidase and/or cytochrome P-450. A reaction pathway like that of cytochrome P-450 implies oxygen transfer to the substrate from the as yet uncharacterized iron-oxo species formed in the reaction of the heme cofactor with H 2 O 2 . In contrast, a peroxidase-type reaction chemistry involves reaction pathways proceeding by initial one-electron oxidation of, or H-abstraction from, the substrate, followed by incorporation of oxygen from sources other than the iron-oxo species, i.e. from other than H 2 O 2 .The results of the present study exclude Fenton-type chemistry and prove that the minicatalyst is able to catalyze the oxygen incorporation by both peroxidase and cytochrome P-450 types of reaction pathways, while exchange occurs between the high-valency iron-oxo species and H 2 O. The mechanistic implications of this exchange for cytochrome P-450 are discussed.

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