A new catalyst (see structure) hydroxylates phenols with O2 via a stable side‐on peroxide complex, which is similar to the active site of tyrosinase in terms of the ligand environment and its spectroscopic properties. The catalytic oxidation of phenols to quinones proceeds at room temperature in the presence of NEt3 and even non‐native substrates can be oxidized catalytically. The reaction mechanism is analogous to that of the enzyme‐catalyzed reaction.

The enzyme tyrosinase contains two Cu(I) centres, trigonally coordinated by imidazole nitrogens of six conserved histidine residues. The enzyme activates O(2) to form a µ-η(2):η(2)-peroxo-dicopper(II) core, which hydroxylates tyrosine to a catechol in the first committed step of melanin biosynthesis. Here, we report a family of synthetic peroxo complexes, with spectroscopic and chemical features consistent with those of oxygenated tyrosinase, formed through the self-assembly of monodentate imidazole ligands, Cu(I) and O(2) at -125 °C. An extensively studied complex reproduces the enzymatic electrophilic oxidation of exogenous phenolic substrates to catechols in good stoichiometric yields. The self-assembly and subsequent reactivity support the intrinsic stability of the Cu(2)O(2) core with imidazole ligation, in the absence of a polypeptide framework, and the innate capacity to effect hydroxylation of phenolic substrates. These observations suggest that a foundational role of the protein matrix is to facilitate expression of properties native to the core by bearing the entropic costs of assembly and precluding undesired oxidative degradation pathways.

Nature's facility with dioxygen outmatches modern chemistry in the oxidation and oxygenation of materials and substrates for biosynthesis and cellular metabolism. The Earth's most abundant naturally occurring oxidant is-frankly-poorly understood and controlled, and thus underused. Copper-based enzyme metallocofactors are ubiquitous to the efficient consumption of dioxygen by all domains of life. Over the last several decades, we have joined many research groups in the study of copper- and dioxygen-dependent enzymes through close investigation of synthetically derived, small-molecule active-site analogs. Simple copper-dioxygen clusters bearing structural and spectroscopic similarity to dioxygen-activating enzymes can be probed for their fundamental geometrical, electronic, and reactive properties using the tools available to inorganic and synthetic chemistry. Our exploration of the copper-dioxygen arena has sustained product evaluation of the key dynamics and reactivity of binuclear Cu2O2 compounds. Almost exclusively operating at low temperatures, from -78 °C to solution characterization even at -125 °C, we have identified numerous compounds supported by simple and easily accessed, low molecular weight ligands-chiefly families of bidentate diamine chelates. We have found that by stripping away complexity in comparison to extended protein tertiary structures or sophisticated, multinucleating architectures, we can experimentally manipulate activated compounds and open pathways of reactivity toward exogenous substrates that both inform on and extend fundamental mechanisms of oxygenase enzymes. Our recent successes have advanced understanding of the tyrosinase enzyme, and related hemocyanin and NspF, and the copper membrane monooxygenases, specifically particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) and ammonia monooxygenase (AMO). Tyrosinase, ubiquitously distributed throughout life, is fundamental to the copper-based oxidation of phenols and the production of chromophores by dedicated biosynthesis or incidental oxidative browning. The copper membrane monooxygenases are comparatively new entrants to the copper-dioxygen field. While pMMO mediates the synthetically tantalizing transformation of methane to methanol, AMO catalyzes the first metabolic step in deriving chemical energy from ammonia-a reaction massively represented on a global scale and a critical component of chemical homeostasis on Earth. In this Account, we begin by introduction of the synthetic copper-dioxygen chemistry field, from techniques to the differential coordination of dioxygen with copper. Then, we describe the unambiguous self-assembly of an oxygenated tyrosinase mimic from basic constituents (copper, dioxygen, and monodentate-imidazole histidine analogs) and the resulting emergence of intrinsic reactivity, free of any influence due to the protein environment. Next, we discuss the first catalytic oxidation of phenol through a fully characterized tyrosinase mimic, derived from molecular oxygen, and its application to substrates unreactive in the nati...

Here we report the formation of the first examples of dicopper(III) bis(μ-oxo) complexes ligated by the primary amines, propylenediamine, and N,N,-dimethyl propylenediamine. Stabilization of these new compounds is effected at -125 °C by "core capture"- introduction of exogenous ligand to a preformed dicopper(III) bis(μ-oxo) complex supported by the peralkylated tetramethyl propylenediamine. Primary amine ligation in these compounds matches the single primary amine coordination of the putative active site of particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) and polysaccharide monooxygenase. Reactivity studies presented here show primary amine ligated cores are competent oxidants, capable of activating C-H bonds by an H-atom abstraction mechanism. Trends in spectroscopy, structure, and reactivity provide hints to the potential role of primary amine ligation in pMMO: increased substrate accessibility to the redox active orbitals of the Cu2O2 core and greater stabilization of the oxidant without attenuation of oxidizing power.

The mechanisms of dioxygen activation and methane C-H oxidation in particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) are currently unknown. Recent studies support a binuclear copper site as the catalytic center. We report the low-temperature assembly of a high-valent dicopper(III) bis(μ-oxide) complex bearing marked structural fidelity to the proposed active site of pMMO. This unprecedented dioxygen-bonded Cu(III) species with exclusive biological ligation directly informs on the chemical plausibility and thermodynamic stability of the bis(μ-oxide) structure in such dicopper sites and foretells unusual optical signatures of an oxygenation product in pMMO. Though the ultimate pMMO active oxidant is still debated, C-H oxidation of exogenous substrates is observed with the reported Cu(III) complexes. The assembly of a high valent species both narrows the search for relevant pMMO intermediates and provides evidence to substantiate the role of Cu(III) in biological redox processes.