Oxygen reactions of the copper oxidases.

The copper oxidases are a remarkable family of metalloenzymes that have evolved specialized mechanisms to accomplish the controlled reduction of dioxygen, delivering the equivalent of H2 from organic substrates to O2 to form hydrogen peroxide, a ubiquitous oxygen metabolite that is involved in a wide range of biological interactions. These enzymes display their virtuosity in dioxygen chemistry by harnessing the oxidizing power of that molecule not only during catalytic turnover, but also in transforming themselves in the biogenesis of their catalytic redox cofactor.