Vanadium-iron-sulfur clusters containing the cubane-type [VFe3S4] core unit: synthesis of a cluster with the topology of the PN cluster of nitrogenase.

A synthetic method affording a topological analogue of the electron-transfer P-cluster of nitrogenase (Fe(8)S(7)(mu(2)-S(Cys))(2)) in the P(N) state has been devised, based in part on our previous development of cubane-type VFe(3)S(4) clusters (Hauser, C.; Bill, E.; Holm, R. H. Inorg. Chem. 2002, 41, 1615-1624). The cluster [(Tp)VFe(3)S(4)Cl(3)](2-) (1) is converted to [(Tp)VFe(3)S(4)(PR(3))(3)](1+) (R = Et (2), Bu (3)) by reaction with R(3)P. The phosphine ligands are readily substituted, leading to [(Tp)VFe(3)S(4)(SR)(3)](2-) (R = Ph (4), H (5)). Reduction of 2 or 3 with cobaltocene produces the edge-bridged double cubanes [(Tp)(2)V(2)Fe(6)S(8)(PR(3))(4)] (R = Et (6), Bu (7)), which are readily converted to [(Tp)(2)V(2)Fe(6)S(8)(SPh)(4)](4-) (8). The structures of clusters 3-5 and 8 were proven crystallographically. Cluster 8 has the double-cubane structure previously shown for 6, in which two cubane units are bridged by two Fe-(mu(4)-S) bonds. (57)Fe isomer shifts are consistent with the formulation [VFe(2.33+)(3)S(4)](2+) for the single cubanes and the all-ferrous description 2[VFe(2+)(3)S(4)](1+) for the double cubanes. Reaction of 6 with 4 equiv of (Et(4)N)(HS) in acetonitrile results in the insertion of sulfide with concomitant structural rearrangement and the formation of [(Tp)(2)V(2)Fe(6)S(9)(SH)(2)](4-) (10), obtained in ca. 50% yield as the Et(4)N(+) salt. The cluster has C(2) symmetry, with two all-ferrous VFe(3)S(4) fragments bridged by a common mu(6)-S atom and two mu(2)-S atoms that simulate the bridging atoms in the two Fe-(mu(2)-S(Cys))-Fe bridges of the P(N) cluster. The bridge pattern V(2)Fe(6)(mu(2)-S)(2)(mu(3)-S)(6)(mu(6)-S) and cluster shape match those of the native cluster. A best-fit superposition of the cores of 10 and the P(N) cluster affords a weighted rms deviation in atom positions of 0.33 A. Cluster 10 and [(Tp)(2)Mo(2)Fe(6)S(9)(SH)(2)](3-), prepared by a related route (Zhang, Y.; Holm, R. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 3910-3920), demonstrate that the topology of the P(N) cluster can be achieved in molecular form in the absence of protein structure (Tp = tris(pyrazolyl)hydroborate).