Edward I. Solomon

Most of the major classes of non-heme iron metalloenzymes use high spin Fe(II) sites to activate O₂. These had been refractory to spectroscopic definition. Thus we developed a variable-temperature, variable-field magnetic circular dichroism (VTVH MCD) spectroscopic methodology that defined a general mechanistic strategy used by these non-heme Fe(II) enzyme classes to control O₂ activation. This leads toFe/O₂ intermediates that go on to perform a wide range of selective catalysis. This talk will then focus on using Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy (NRVS) to define the geometric structures and VTVH MCD the electronic structures of Fe(IV)=O intermediates in these metalloenzymes and, coupled to electronic structure calculations, define how their Frontier Molecular Orbitals (FMOs) control reactivity. These methods will then be extended with site selectivity to define the Fe active sites in metallozeolites that take CH₄ to CH₃OH at room temperature and their relation to the metalloenzymes.

Sponsorship of an event does not constitute institutional endorsement of external speakers or views presented.