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Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 108).

Thesis (B.S.) Summa Cum Laude--Butler University, 2008. / Includes curriculum vitae. Appendix 2 includes the article: Kraning CM, Benz TL, Bloome KS, Campanello GC, Fahrenbach VS, Mistry SA, Hedge CA, Clevenger KD, Gligorich KM, Hopkins TA, Hoops GC, Mendes SB, Chang H-C, Su M-C (2007) Determination of surface coverage and orientation of reduced cytochrome c on a silica surface with polarized ATR spectroscopy. J. Phys. Chem. C 2007, 111:13062-13067. Includes bibliographical references (88-91).

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This thesis reports the synthesis and copper coordination chemistry of covalently-linked aryl-imidazole derivatives designed as models for the crosslinked imidazole-phenol sidechains of the His-Tyr cofactor in the CcO. Three new imidazole- (HL1 - HL3) and three new indole- (HL4 - H2L6) containing tripodal ligands were synthesised. The conjugate addition of an imidazole to activated quinone derivatives was developed as a new route to organic models for the Tyr His cofactor. Two monodentate imidazole-aryl, Im-hq(OH)2 and Im-ArOH, and an imidazole-quinone, Im bq were obtained using this route. The X-ray crystal structure of Im-hq(OH)2.EtOH was determined. The route was also used to give new chelating ligands, H2L10 and HL12, containing a cross-linked imidazole-phenol surrogate for the Tyr244-His240 cofactor. Copper complexes of Im-hq(OH)2, Im-bq, Im-ArOH, H2L10-HL12, and HL1-H2L6 were prepared, and the X-ray crystal structures of [Cu(terpy)(Im-bq)][BF4]2 and five other copper complexes were determined. The physiochemical properties of the copper complexes were characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis-NIR, EPR and (spectro)electrochemical studies. Key results include: the oxidation of Im-ArO- anion affords the semiquinone radical, Im-sq(4OH)(1O??????), in a hydrous solvent. However, the oxidations of neutral Im-ArOH and [Cu(tpa)(Im-ArOH)]2+ produce the corresponding phenoxy radical species that rapidly and reversibly dimerise to give quinol cyclohexadienone, QCHD, dimers. Significantly [Cu(tpa)(Im-sq(4OH)(1O??????))]2+ was EPR silent, perhaps due to antiferromagnetic coupling between the Cu(II) (S=1/2) and semiquinonyl radical (S=1/2) centres. Deprotonation of the hydroquinone in [Cu(tpa)(Im-hq(OH)2]2+ produces the hydroquinone dianion which reduces the Cu(II) centre. The semiquinone radical is coordinatively labile and dissociates from the Cu(I) centre. The biological implications of these results are mentioned.

Proton transfer is one of the most common reactions in biological systems. During energy conversion inside a cell, proton transfer is crucial to maintain an electrochemical proton gradient across the cell membrane. This gradient is in turn used to e.g. produce ATP, the energy currency of the cell. One of the key components of the build-up of this gradient is cytochrome c oxidase. This membrane-bound enzyme catalyzes the reduction of molecular oxygen to water, using protons and electrons, and in the process protons are pumped across the membrane. All protons used during oxygen reduction and those that are pumped, are transferred via hydrophilic pathways inside the hydrophobic interior of the enzyme. One of these pathways, called the D pathway, is used to transfer protons both to the catalytic site and towards a pump site. It is yet not fully understood how these proton-transfer reactions are timed, coupled and controlled.   This thesis is focused on studies of proton-transfer reactions through the D pathway in variants of cytochrome c oxidase that lack the ability to pump protons. The results suggest that changes in pKa values of key residues, as well as structural changes inside the pathway, can explain the non-pumping phenotypes. The results have led us to propose that an internal proton shuttle (Glu286I) can adopt two different conformations that are in equilibrium with each other, and that this equilibrium is altered in non-pumping variants of cytochrome c oxidase. We also observed that proton transfer through the D pathway could occur with the same rate as in the wild-type enzyme even when one of the key residues (Asp132I) is absent. This result contradicts previous assumptions that acidic residues must be present at an orifice of proton pathways. We therefore suggest that this specific residue could have an additional role, e.g. as a selectivity filter that excludes all ions except protons from entering the pathway. / <p>At the time of doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Accepted; Paper 3: Manuscript</p>