The iron(iit) complex of the porphyrin meso-tetrakis(3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin, ( l-H2), reacts with certain thiols in basic dimethyl sulphoxide solution at 25 "C to give products having hyperporphyrin spectra similar to those of thiolate complexes of iron(iii)-cytochrome P-450.Cytochrome P-450 represents a class of enzymes responsible for the hydroxylation of a wide variety of organic compounds. These haem proteins have aroused considerable interest not only because of their biochemical importance (e.g. in detoxification, drug metabolism, carcinogenesis, and steroid biosyn-thesis1.2) but also because of the unique spectroscopic properties, apparently arising from the presence of thiolate ligands, shown by some of their derivatives. For example the CO adducts of the reduced enzymes possess 'hyperporphyrin' spectra characterised by intense Soret absorptions at -363 and -450 nm.3j-These spectra, which have proved invaluable in biochemical assays of the protein, have been successfully mimicked in the CO adducts of some simple iron(I1)porphyrin complexes containing axial thiolate ligands.4.5 Hyperporphyrin spectra have also been obtained for complexes of iron(m)-cytochrome P-450 with organic thiols at room temperature ,6 and spectroscopic studies on iron(1Ir)protoporphyrin IX dimethyl ester (PP1XDME)-thiolate model systems have established that the species responsible for the Soret splitting are low-spin bis(thiolato)iron(m) haem complexe~.~ However the susceptibility of iron(u1)-porphyrin complexes towards reduction in the presence of thiolate ligands necessitated the use of low temperatures in these studies and the hyperporphyrin spectra could only be obtained below -60 "C for these model haemin-thiolate complexes. This communication describes spectroscopic models for the protein-thiolate complexes which, by contrast, are remarkably stable in the presence of air at room temperature.Addition of Et3N to a solution containing FeIWl-(l)s and HSCH2C02Me in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) at 25 "C caused an immediate colour change from yellow to green and the Soret band at 433 nm in the spectrum of the original solution to be replaced by split Soret bands at 379 and 460 nm Ar I Ar I. The splitting of the Soret band results from interaction of a thiolate sulphur .--* porphyrin eg(n*) charge-transfer transition with the porphyrin a,,(n), a,,(n) + eg(3t*) transitions. A recent X-ray crystallographic study has established that Cys-357 provides the thiolate ligand to the haem in iron(m)-cytochrome P-450,,,: T. L.