The water-soluble ferriheme model Fe(III)(TPPS) mediates oxygen atom transfer from inorganic nitrite to a water-soluble phosphine (tppts), dimethyl sulfide, and the biological thiols cysteine (CysSH) and glutathione (GSH). The products with the latter reductant are the respective sulfenic acids CysS(O)H and GS(O)H, although these reactive intermediates are rapidly trapped by reaction with excess thiol. The nitrosyl complex Fe(II)(TPPS)(NO) is the dominant iron species while excess substrate is present. However, in slightly acidic media (pH ≈ 6), the system does not terminate at this very stable ferrous nitrosyl. Instead, it displays a matrix of redox transformations linking spontaneous regeneration of Fe(III)(TPPS) to the formation of both N2O and NO. Electrochemical sensor and trapping experiments demonstrate that HNO (nitroxyl) is formed, at least when tppts is the reductant. HNO is the likely predecessor of the N2O. A key pathway to NO formation is nitrite reduction by Fe(II)(TPPS), and the kinetics of this iron-mediated transformation are described. Given that inorganic nitrite has protective roles during ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury to organs, attributed in part to NO formation, and that HNO may also reduce net damage from I/R, the present studies are relevant to potential mechanisms of such nitrite protection.

Aqueous solutions of the iron(III) porphyrin complex FeIII(TPPS) (1, TPPS = tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)-porphyrinato) and nitrite ion react with various substrates S to generate the ferrous nitrosyl complex FeII(TPPS)(NO) (2) plus oxidized substrate. When S is a water-soluble sulfonated phosphine, the product is the resulting monoxide. When air is introduced to the product solutions, 2 is rapidly reoxidized to 1; however, even in the absence of air, there is a slow regeneration of the ferric species with concomitant production of nitrous oxide. Thus, in an anaerobic aqueous environment, FeIII(TPPS) catalyzes oxygen atom transfer from nitrite ion to substrates with the eventual formation of N2O.

Gold(I) complexes were readily prepared by reaction of the respective ligands with (Me2S)AuCl in CH2Cl2. Complexes of formula LAuCl {L = diphenyl(2‐pyridyl)phosphane (PPh2Py), (R)‐(+)‐4‐[(2)‐(diphenylphosphanyl)‐1‐naphthyl]‐N‐[(R)‐1‐phenylethyl]‐1‐phthalazinamine (PINAP)} were obtained when a 1:1 molar ratio of ligand to starting gold precursor was used. When a 2:1 ratio of ligand to gold precursor was used with PPh2Py or MandyPhos as ligands, complexes of the type L2AuCl were obtained. All complexes were fully characterized, and single‐crystal X‐ray structures could be determined for four complexes. Chloride ions were removed by reaction with silver salts, such as AgNTf2, AgOTf and AgBF4, for the use of these complexes as catalysts. After the catalytic reaction with alkynes and alcohols in acetonitrile, a unique trinuclear gold(I) complex derived from [(PPh2Py)Au]BF4 could be characterized by X‐ray structural analysis, showing a mode of catalyst deactivation.

The reaction of the fluorescent macrocyclic ligand 1,8-bis(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane with copper(II) salts leads to formation of the Cu(DAC)2+ cation (I), which is not luminescent. However, when aqueous methanol solutions of I are allowed to react with NO, fluorescence again develops, owing to the formation of the strongly luminescent N-nitrosated ligand DAC-NO (II), which is released from the copper center. This reaction is relatively slow in neutral media, and kinetics studies show it to be first order in the concentrations of NO and base. In these contexts, it is proposed that the amine nitrosation occurs via NO attack at a coordinated amine that has been deprotonated and that this step occurs with concomitant reduction of the Cu(II) to Cu(I). DFT computations at the BP/LACVP* level support these mechanistic arguments. It is further proposed that such nitrosation of electron-rich ligands coordinated to redox-active metal centers is a mechanistic pathway that may find greater generality in the biochemical formation of nitrosothiols and nitrosoamines.

The photochemical behavior of the tetraazamacrocyclic complex trans-RuCl([15]ane)(NO)2+ (RuNO2+) in a 10 mM phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.4, and in the presence of Ru(NH3)5pz2+ (Rupz2+) is reported. Irradiation (436 nm) of an aqueous solution containing both cationic complexes as PF6- salts labilizes NO from RuNO2+ with a quantum yield (phiNO) dependent on the concentration of Rupz2+ with a maximum value of phiNO (1.03(11)x10(-3) einstein mol-1) found for a solution with equimolar concentrations (5x10(-5) M) of the two complexes in phosphate buffer solution. The quantitative behavior of this system suggests that the two cations undergo preassociation such that photoexcitation of the visible absorbing Rupz2+ is followed by electron or energy transfer to RuNO2+, which does not absorb appreciably at the excitation wavelength, and this leads to NO release from the reduced nitrosyl complex. Notably, the NO release was not seen in the absence of phosphate buffer; thus, it appears that phosphate ions mediate NO generation, perhaps by facilitating formation of a supramolecular complex between the two ruthenium cations. Reexamination of the cyclic voltammetry of Rupz2+ showed that the electrochemical behavior of this species is also affected by the presence of the phosphate buffer.