Enhanced Reactivities of Iron(IV)-Oxo Porphyrin pi-Cation Radicals in Oxygenation Reactions by Electron-Donating Axial Ligands

The proximal axial ligand in heme iron enzymes plays Fin important role in tuning the reactivities of iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin pi-capon radicals in oxidation reactions. The present study reports the effects of axial ligands in olefin epoxidation, aromatic hydroxylation, alcohol oxidation. and alkane hydroxylation. by [(tmp)(+center dot) Fe-IV(O)(p-Y-PyO)](+) (1-Y) (tmp= meso-tetramesitylporphyrin, p-Y-PyO= para-substituted pyridine N-oxides, and Y=OCH3, CH3, H, Cl) In all of the oxidation reactions. the reactivities of 1-Y are found to follow the older 1-OCH3 > 1-CH3 > 1-H > 1-Cl; negative Hammett p values of -1.4 to -2 7 were obtained by plotting the reaction rates against the sigma(p) values of the substituents of p-Y-PyO These results, as well as previous ones on the effect of anionic nucleophiles, Show that iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin pi-canon radicals bearing electron-donating axial ligands are more reactive in oxo-transfer and hydrogen-atom abstraction reactions These results are counterintutive since iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin pi-cation radicals are electrophilic species. Theoretical calculations of anionic and neutral ligands reproduced the counterintuitive experimental findings and elucidated the loot cause of the axial ligand effects Thus, in the case of anionic ligands, as the ligand becomes a better electron donor, it strengthens the FeO-H bond and thereby enhances its H-abstraction activity. In addition, it weakens the Fe=O bond and encourages oxo-transfer reactivity. Both are Bell-Evans-Polanyl effects, however, in a series of neutral ligands like p-Y-PyO, there is a relatively weak trend that appears to originate in two-state reactivity (TSR). This combination of experiment and theory enabled us to elucidate the factors that control the reactivity patterns of iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin pi-cation radicals in oxidation reactions and to resolve an enigmatic and fundamental problem.