The geometric and electronic structures of high-spin ferrous
complexes of bleomycin (FeIIBLM)
and a series of systematically perturbed BLM derivatives have been
investigated by optical absorption, circular
dichroism (CD), and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopies.
The active site of the unmodified
drug complex is six-coordinate with the coordination sphere completed
by at least five endogenous ligands
including the pyrimidine, imidazole, deprotonated amide, and secondary
and primary amine functionalities
with either the 3-O-carbamoyl substituent of the mannose
sugar or solvent bound at the sixth site. This weak
sixth ligand is the exchangeable site of exogenous small molecule
binding. Perturbing the carbamoyl substituent
alters the coordination environment of the metal and decreases the
azide binding affinities of the perturbed
complexes. This is correlated with altered DNA cleaving
capabilities. Additionally, altering the binding of
the axial primary amine significantly affects the iron coordination
sphere as evidenced by reduced π-back-bonding interactions specifically with the pyrimidine ligand. This
pyrimidine π-back-bonding appears to play
a key role in mediating the electron density localized on the ferrous
center, which contributes to the unique
oxygen chemistry and reactivity exhibited by FeIIBLM
relative to other non-heme iron sites. Oxygen binding
to derivatives in which the β-aminoalanine fragment has been removed
leads to a high-spin ferric complex
and no observed DNA strand scission, in contrast to the long-lived
low-spin activated BLM intermediate that
precedes DNA degradation.