Deployment of solar fuels derived from water requires robust oxygen-evolving catalysts made from earth abundant materials. Copper has recently received much attention in this regard. Mechanistic parallels between Cu and single-site Ru/Ir/Mn water oxidation catalysts, including intermediacy of terminal Cu oxo/oxyl species, are prevalent in the literature; however, intermediacy of late transition metal oxo species would be remarkable given the high d-electron count would fill antibonding orbitals, making these species high in energy. This may suggest alternate pathways are at work in copper-based water oxidation. This report characterizes a dinuclear copper water oxidation catalyst, {[(L)Cu(II)]-(μ-OH)}(OTf) (L = MeTMPA = bis((6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)(2-pyridylmethyl)amine) in which water oxidation proceeds with high Faradaic efficiency (>90%) and moderate rates (33 s at ∼1 V overpotential, pH 12.5). A large kinetic isotope effect (k/k = 20) suggests proton coupled electron transfer in the initial oxidation as the rate-determining step. This species partially dissociates in aqueous solution at pH 12.5 to generate a mononuclear {[(L)Cu(II)(OH)]} adduct (K = 0.0041). Calculations that reproduce the experimental findings reveal that oxidation of either the mononuclear or dinuclear species results in a common dinuclear intermediate, {[LCu(III)]-(μ-O)}, which avoids formation of terminal Cu(IV)═O/Cu(III)-O intermediates. Calculations further reveal that both intermolecular water nucleophilic attack and redox isomerization of {[LCu(III)]-(μ-O)} are energetically accessible pathways for O-O bond formation. The consequences of these findings are discussed in relation to differences in water oxidation pathways between Cu catalysts and catalysts based on Ru, Ir, and Mn.

The mono-μ-hydroxo complex {[Cu(tmpa)]-(μ-OH)} (1) can undergo reversible deprotonation at -30 °C to yield {[Cu(tmpa)]-(μ-O)} (2). This species is basic with a pK of 24.3. 2 is competent for concerted proton-electron transfer from TEMPOH, but is an intrinsically poor hydrogen atom abstractor (BDFE(OH) of 77.2 kcal/mol) based on kinetic and thermodynamic analyses. Nonetheless, DFT calculations experimentally calibrated against 2 reveal that [CuO] is likely thermodynamically viable in copper-dependent methane monoxygenase enzymes.

The mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) ofPlasmodiummalaria parasites is a major antimalarial drug target, but critical cytochrome functions remain unstudied and enigmatic. Parasites express two distinct cyt c homologs (c and c-2) with unusually sparse sequence identity and uncertain fitness contributions.P. falciparumcyt c-2 is the most divergent eukaryotic cyt c homolog currently known and has sequence features predicted to be incompatible with canonical ETC function. We tagged both cyt c homologs and the related cyt c1 for inducible knockdown. Translational repression of cyt c and cyt c1 was lethal to parasites, which died from ETC dysfunction and impaired ubiquinone recycling. In contrast, cyt c-2 knockdown or knock-out had little impact on blood-stage growth, indicating that parasites rely fully on the more conserved cyt c for ETC function. Biochemical and structural studies revealed that both cyt c and c-2 are hemylated by holocytochrome c synthase, but UV-vis absorbance and EPR spectra strongly suggest that cyt c-2 has an unusually open active site in which heme is stably coordinated by only a single axial amino-acid ligand and can bind exogenous small molecules. These studies provide a direct dissection of cytochrome functions in the ETC of malaria parasites and identify a highly divergentPlasmodiumcytochrome c with molecular adaptations that defy a conserved role in eukaryotic evolution.

The mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) of Plasmodium malaria parasites is a major antimalarial drug target, but critical cytochrome (cyt) functions remain unstudied and enigmatic. Parasites express two distinct cyt c homologs ( c and c -2) with unusually sparse sequence identity and uncertain fitness contributions. P. falciparum cyt c -2 is the most divergent eukaryotic cyt c homolog currently known and has sequence features predicted to be incompatible with canonical ETC function. We tagged both cyt c homologs and the related cyt c 1 for inducible knockdown. Translational repression of cyt c and cyt c 1 was lethal to parasites, which died from ETC dysfunction and impaired ubiquinone recycling. In contrast, cyt c -2 knockdown or knockout had little impact on blood-stage growth, indicating that parasites rely fully on the more conserved cyt c for ETC function. Biochemical and structural studies revealed that both cyt c and c -2 are hemylated by holocytochrome c synthase, but UV-vis absorbance and EPR spectra strongly suggest that cyt c -2 has an unusually open active site in which heme is stably coordinated by only a single axial amino acid ligand and can bind exogenous small molecules. These studies provide a direct dissection of cytochrome functions in the ETC of malaria parasites and identify a highly divergent Plasmodium cytochrome c with molecular adaptations that defy a conserved role in eukaryotic evolution.

The strength of the relevant bonds in bond-making and bond-breaking processes can directly affect the overall efficiency of the process. Copper–oxygen sites are known to catalyze reactions with some of the most recalcitrant C–H bonds found in nature as quantified by the bond dissociation free energy (BDFE), yet only a handful of copper-bound O–H bond strengths have been defined. Equally important in the design of synthetic catalysts is an understanding of the geometric and electronic structure origins of these thermo­dynamic parameters. In this report, the BDFE­(OH) of two dicopper–hydroxo complexes, {[LCu]2-(μ-OH)}3+ and {[LCu]2-(μ-OH)}4+ (L = tris­(2-pyridylmethyl)­amine), were measured. Two key observations were made: (i) the BDFE­(OH)­s of these complexes were exceptionally high at 103.4 and 91.7 kcal/mol, respectively, which are the highest condensed phase MO-H BDFEs to date and (ii) that the higher oxidation state had a lower BDFE­(OH), which is counter to expectations based on known mononuclear BDFE­(OH)­s which increase with the oxidation state. To understand the origin of these thermo­dynamic values, the BDFE­(OH)­s were measured and analyzed for the mononuclear complexes [LCu­(OH2)]1+ and [LCu­(OH2)]2+ in the same ligand environment. This treatment revealed “dinuclear effects” that include contributions from rehybridization of the oxygen, mixed valency of the metals, magnetic exchange between the metals, and differences in solvation, which are general with respect to [M]2–OH complexes to varying degrees. These analyses are important because they provide a starting point for rationally tuning the thermo­dynamics of catalytic intermediates broadly and for understanding how copper active sites achieve activation of strong C–H bonds.