Clusters with the [MFe 3 S 4 ] n+ core, (M = Mo, n=3; M = V, n=2). are used as catalysts for the reduction of substrates relevant to nitrogenase function. Substrates such as hydrazine and acetylene, are catalytically reduced by (NEt4)2[(Cl4-cat)(CH3CN)MoFe3S 4 Cl 3 ], I, to ammonia and ethylene respectively, in the presence of added protons and reducing equivalents. Hydrazine also is catalytically reduced by the (NEt4)[(DMF)3VFe3S4Cl 3 ] cubane under similar conditions. Catalysis in excess of 100 turnovers (for hydrazine reduction) and in excess of 15 turnovers (for acetylene reduction) has been observed over a period of 24 hours. Kinetic studies of the acetylene reduction reaction have been carried out. Considerable evidence has been amassed which directly implicates the Mo and V atoms as the primary catalytic sites. The reduction of hydrazine is accelerated in the presence of carboxylate ligands bound to the Mo atom in I and this effect is interpreted in terms of a proton delivery shuttle involving the carboxylate group and the substrate during reduction. The possible role of the homocitrate ligand in the nitrogen cofactor is analyzed in terms of these findings.In recent single crystal X-ray structure determinations of the Fe-Mo protein of nitrogenase from Clostridium pasteurianum (7,2) and Azotobacter vinelandii (2) the structure of the Fe/Mo/S site has been revealed to near atomic resolution. This site catalyzes the biological reduction of dinitrogen (3) to ammonia under ambient temperature and pressure and its exact role and mechanism of action have been subject to intense interest. The Fe/Mo/S cluster contains two cuboidal subunits, Fe4S3 and MoFe^, bridged by three S 2 ' ions. The cluster is anchored to the protein matrix by a cysteinyl residue coordinated to an Fe atom at one end of the cluster and by an imidazole group from a histidine residue that is bound to the Mo atom at the other end of the cluster, Fig. 1. The Mo atom also is coordinated by a homocitrate molecule that serves as a bidentate chelate. Unusual structural features include the unprecedented trigonal planar coordination geometry for the six μ-S-bridged iron atoms, and the unusually short Fe-Fe distances across the two subclusters (2.5-2.6Â).