Resonance Raman detection of Fe-CO stretching and Fe-C-O bending vibrations in sterically hindered carbonmonoxy "strapped hemes". A structural probe of Fe-C-O distortion.

We report resonance Raman studies of the Fe-C-O distortion in sterically hindered heme-CO complexes. The steric hindrance is provided by a hydrocarbon chain strapped across one face of the heme. Increasing the steric hindrance (by decreasing the chain length), which reduces the CO binding affinity, is found to increase the Fe-CO stretching frequencies: heme 5 (unstrapped), 495 cm-1; FeSP-15, 509 cm-1; FeSP-14, 512 cm-1; FeSP-13, 514 cm-1. This is interpreted in terms of a decrease in the CO effective mass and increased interactions between the C atom of CO and the N atom(s) of the pyrrole ring(s). Resonance Raman enhancement of the Fe-C-O bending mode upon Soret excitation may be correlated with the overlap between the porphyrin (pi*) and CO (pi*) orbitals when the CO ligand is tilted. Its intensity relative to that of the Fe-CO stretching mode increases with increasing steric hindrance in these "strapped hemes". In addition, we have estimated the Fe-C-O angles from isotope data in various heme-CO complexes. It is inferred that the angles are 167 +/- 5 degrees (FeSP-15) and 175 +/- 5 degrees (FeSP-14, FeSP-13, Mb X CO, and Hb X CO).