Heme-Cu/O
2 adducts are of i
nterest i
n the elucidatio
n of the fu
ndame
ntal metal-O
2 chemistry occurri
ng i
n heme-Cu e
nzymes which effect reductive O-O cleavage of dioxyge
n to water. I
n this report, the chemistry of four heme-peroxo-copper [Fe
III-(O
22-)-Cu
II]
+ complexes (
1-4), varyi
ng i
n their liga
nd architecture, copper-liga
nd de
nticity, orboth a
nd thus their structures a
nd physical properties are compared i
n their reactivity toward CO, PPh
3, acids,cobaltoce
ne, a
nd phe
nols. I
n 1 a
nd
2, the copper(II) liga
nd is N
4-tetrade
ntate, a
nd the peroxo u
nit is bou
nd side-o
nto iro
n(III) a
nd e
nd-o
n to the copper(II). I
n co
ntrast,
3 a
nd
4 co
ntai
n a N
3-tride
ntate copper(II) liga
nd, a
nd theperoxo u
nit is bou
nd side-o
n to both metal io
ns. CO "displaces" the peroxo liga
nd from
2-
4 to form reducedCO-Fe
II a
nd CO-Cu
I species. PPh
3 reacts with
3 a
nd
4 displaci
ng the peroxide liga
nd from copper, formi
ng(porphyri
nate)Fe
III-superoxide plus Cu
I-PPh
3 species. Complex
2 does
not react with PPh
3, a
nd surprisi
ngly,
1reacts
neither with PPh
3 nor CO, exhibiti
ng remarkable stability toward these reage
nts. The behavior of
1 a
nd
2compared to that of
3 a
nd
4 correlates with the differe
nt de
nticity of the copper liga
nd (tetra vs tride
ntate). Complexes
1-
4 react with HCl releasi
ng H
2O
2, de
monstrati
ng the basic character of the peroxide liga
nd. Cobaltoce
ne causesthe two-electro
n reductio
n of
1-
4 givi
ng the correspo
ndi
ng
![](/images/e<font color=)
ntities/mgr.gif">-oxo [Fe
III-(O
2-)-Cu
II]
+ complexes, i
n co
ntrast to thefi
ndi
ngs for other heme-peroxo-copper species of differe
nt desig
n. With
t-butyl-substituted phe
nols,
no reactio
noccurs with
1-
4. The results described here emphasize how liga
nd desig
n a
nd variatio
ns i
nflue
nce a
nd co
ntrol
noto
nly the structure a
nd physical properties but also the reactivity patter
ns for heme-Cu/O
2 adducts. Implicatio
ns forfuture i
nvestigatio
ns of proto
nated heme/Cu-peroxo complexes, low-spi
n a
nalogues, a
nd ultimately O-O cleavagechemistry are discussed.