Dataset Information

Activation of Electron-Deficient Quinones through Hydrogen-Bond-Donor-Coupled Electron Transfer.

ABSTRACT: Quinones are important organic oxidants in a variety of synthetic and biological contexts, and they are susceptible to activation towards electron transfer through hydrogen bonding. Whereas this effect of hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) has been observed for Lewis basic, weakly oxidizing quinones, comparable activation is not readily achieved when more reactive and synthetically useful electron-deficient quinones are used. We have successfully employed HBD-coupled electron transfer as a strategy to activate electron-deficient quinones. A systematic investigation of HBDs has led to the discovery that certain dicationic HBDs have an exceptionally large effect on the rate and thermodynamics of electron transfer. We further demonstrate that these HBDs can be used as catalysts in a quinone-mediated model synthetic transformation.

SUBMITTER: Turek AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5120606 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Activation of Electron-Deficient Quinones through Hydrogen-Bond-Donor-Coupled Electron Transfer.

Turek Amanda K AK Hardee David J DJ Ullman Andrew M AM Nocera Daniel G DG Jacobsen Eric N EN

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) 20151127 2

Quinones are important organic oxidants in a variety of synthetic and biological contexts, and they are susceptible to activation towards electron transfer through hydrogen bonding. Whereas this effect of hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) has been observed for Lewis basic, weakly oxidizing quinones, comparable activation is not readily achieved when more reactive and synthetically useful electron-deficient quinones are used. We have successfully employed HBD-coupled electron transfer as a strategy to ...[more]

PMID: 26612607

Similar Datasets

Project description:Long-distance electron transfer in marine environments couples physically separated redox half-reactions, impacting biogeochemical cycles of iron, sulfur and carbon. Bacterial bio-electrochemical systems that facilitate electron transfer via conductive filaments or across man-made electrodes are well-known, but the impact of abiotic currents across naturally occurring conductive and semiconductive minerals is poorly understood. In this paper I use cyclic voltammetry to explore electron transfer between electrodes made of common iron minerals (magnetite, hematite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, mackinawite, and greigite), and hydroquinones-a class of organic molecules found in carbon-rich sediments. Of all tested minerals, only pyrite and magnetite showed an increase in electric current in the presence of organic molecules, with pyrite showing excellent electrocatalytic performance. Pyrite electrodes performed better than commercially available glassy carbon electrodes and showed higher peak currents, lower overpotential values and a smaller separation between oxidation and reduction peaks for each tested quinone. Hydroquinone oxidation on pyrite surfaces was reversible, diffusion controlled, and stable over a large number of potential cycles. Given the ubiquity of both pyrite and quinones, abiotic electron transfer between minerals and organic molecules is likely widespread in Nature and may contribute to several different phenomena, including anaerobic respiration of a wide variety of microorganisms in temporally anoxic zones or in the proximity of hydrothermal vent chimneys, as well as quinone cycling and the propagation of anoxic zones in organic rich waters. Finally, interactions between pyrite and quinones make use of electrochemical gradients that have been suggested as an important source of energy for the origins of life on Earth. Ubiquinones and iron sulfide clusters are common redox cofactors found in electron transport chains across all domains of life and interactions between quinones and pyrite might have been an early analog of these ubiquitous systems.

Dataset Information

Activation of Electron-Deficient Quinones through Hydrogen-Bond-Donor-Coupled Electron Transfer.

Publications

Activation of Electron-Deficient Quinones through Hydrogen-Bond-Donor-Coupled Electron Transfer.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets