The reduced form of aquacobalamin binds nitric oxide very effectively to yield a nitrosyl adduct, Cbl(II)-NO. UV-vis, (1)H-, (31)P-, and (15)N NMR data suggest that the reaction product under physiological conditions is a six-coordinate, "base-on" form of the vitamin with a weakly bound alpha-dimethylbenzimidazole base and a bent nitrosyl coordinated to cobalt at the beta-site of the corrin ring. The nitrosyl adduct can formally be described as Cbl(III)-NO-. The kinetics of the binding and dissociation reactions was investigated by laser flash photolysis and stopped-flow techniques, respectively. The activation parameters, DeltaH, DeltaS, and DeltaV, for the forward and reverse reactions were estimated from the effect of temperature and pressure on the kinetics of these reactions. For the "on" reaction of Cbl(II) with NO, the small positive DeltaS and DeltaV values suggest the operation of a dissociative interchange (I(d)) substitution mechanism at the Co(II) center. Detailed laser flash photolysis and (17)O NMR studies provide evidence for the formation of water-bound intermediates in the laser flash experiments and strongly support the proposed I(d) mechanism. The kinetics of the "off" reaction was studied using an NO-trapping technique. The respective activation parameters are also consistent with a dissociative interchange mechanism.

In-depth kinetic and mechanistic studies on the reversible binding of NO to water-soluble iron(III) porphyrins as a function of pH revealed unexpected reaction kinetics for monohydroxo-ligated (P)Fe(III)(OH) species formed by deprotonation of coordinated water in diaqua-ligated (P)Fe(III)(H(2)O)(2). The observed significant decrease in the rate of NO binding to (P)Fe(OH) as compared to that of (P)Fe(H(2)O)(2) does not conform with expectations based on previous mechanistic work on NO-heme interactions, which would point to a diffusion-limited reaction for the five-coordinate Fe(III) center in (P)Fe(OH). The decrease in rate and an associatively activated mode of NO binding observed at high pH is ascribed to an increase in the activation barrier related to spin state and structural changes accompanying NO coordination to the high-spin (P)Fe(III)(OH) complex. The existence of such a barrier has previously been observed in the reactions of five-coordinate iron(II) hemes with CO and is evidenced for the first time for the process involving coordination of NO to the iron heme complex. The observed reactivity pattern, relevant in the context of studies on NO interactions with synthetic and biologically important hemes (in particular, hemoproteins), is reported here for an example of a simple water-soluble iron(III) porphyrin [meso-tetrakis(sulfonatomesityl)porphinato]-iron(III), (TMPS)Fe(III).

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