Pendant amine bases speed up proton transfers to metals by splitting the barriers.

By using density functional theory on [FeFe]-hydrogenase mimics we deconvolute the function of pendant amine bases in proton transfer to and from the metal center. By dividing the high free energy barrier into one high enthalpy-low entropy barrier and one with a low enthalpy-high entropy, a lower free energy barrier is reached. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012