Strong electron correlations in biomimetic transition metal molecules

The first-row transition metals (Fe, Co, V,...) are key players in the active sites of proteins and enzymes responsible for diverse biological processes such as NO regulation and photosynthesis. Many small transition metal complexes possess chemical coordination environments in the vicinity of the metal atom that are reminiscent of these active sites. We have studied the electronic structure of these molecules and discussed the relevance for their biological analogues.;The specific question on which we wish to focus is: Do strong correlations (resulting from the localized character of the TM 3d-orbitals) contribute significantly to the reaction energetics of these molecules and, if so, can these effects be observed by experiment? To accomplish these ends we focus on the cobalt valence tautomer molecules and the phenomenon of electron transfer in aqueous hexaammine cobalt ions.;We utilize theoretical methods in order to study the cobalt valence tautomer molecules which undergo an interconversion with temperature that is reminiscent of the changes in structure and spin that the heme group experiences as the result of Fe-ligand interactions. We perform fully ab initio calculations using the GGA implementation of density functional theory with the computer code SIESTA. In addition, a simple Anderson Impurity Model has been employed that more properly accounts for the Coulomb interaction among the 3d electrons on the cobalt atom. The calculated Co K x-ray absorption near-edge spectra XANES agrees well with experimental data and a prediction for the Co L-edge XAS that could be tested in future experiments is also presented. We believe that there are structures in both spectra that may only be explained by a strong admixture of configurations. It is conjectured that strong electron correlations help explain the non-Arrhenius rate behavior observed in the high-spin to low-spin relaxation rate at low temperatures.;Work on electron-transfer in CoNH32 +/3+6aq using these methods is discussed. Relevant physics for single complexes is presented and then the Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface for the bridged Co2+ and Co3+ complexes is plotted. The electronic transfer matrix element HDA is extracted directly from the surface topography. Finally there are comments on how a mechanism similar to valence tautomerism might be relevant for iron-poryphrin groups that are present in the active sites of many metalloproteins such as myoglobin and cytochrome oxidase.