Accessing Ni(III)-thiolate versus Ni(II)-thiyl bonding in a family of Ni-N2S2 synthetic models of NiSOD.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) catalyzes the disproportionation of superoxide (O2• –) into H2O2 and O2(g) by toggling through different oxidation states of a first-row transition metal ion at its active site. Ni-containing SODs (NiSODs) are a distinct class of this family of metalloenzymes due to the unusual coordination sphere that is comprised of mixed N/S-ligands from peptide-N and cysteine-S donor atoms. A central goal of our research is to understand the factors that govern reactive oxygen species (ROS) stability of the Ni–S(Cys) bond in NiSOD utilizing a synthetic model approach. In light of the reactivity of metal-coordinated thiolates to ROS, several hypotheses have been proffered and include the coordination of His1-Nδ to the Ni(II) and Ni(III) forms of NiSOD, as well as hydrogen bonding or full protonation of a coordinated S(Cys). In this work, we present NiSOD analogues of the general formula [Ni(N2S)(SR′)]−, providing a variable location (SR′ = aryl thiolate) in the N2S2 basal plane coordination s...