Evaluation of nitrogen nuclear hyperfine and quadrupole coupling parameters for the proximal imidazole in myoglobin-azide, -cyanide, and -mercaptoethanol complexes by electron spin echo envelope modulation spectroscopy.

Electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy and computer simulation of spectra has been used to evaluate the nitrogen nuclear hyperfine and quadrupole coupling parameters for the proximal imidazole nitrogen directly coordinated to iron in three low-spin heme complexes, myoglobin-azide, -cyanide, and -mercaptoethanol (MbN3, MbCN, and MbRS). The variability in the weak electron-nuclear coupling parameters reveals the electronic flexibility within the heme group that depends on properties of the exogenous ligands. For example, the isotropic component of the nitrogen nuclear hyperfine coupling ranges from 4.4 MHz for MbN3 to 2.2 MHz for both MbCN and MbRS. The weaker coupling in MbCN and MbRS is taken as evidence for delocalization of unpaired electron spin from iron into the exogenous anionic ligands. The value of e2Qq, the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant for the axial imidazole nitrogen in MbCN and MbRS, was 2.5 MHz but was significantly larger, 3.2 MHz, in MbN3. This large value is considered evidence for a weakened sigma bond between the proximal imidazole and ferric iron in this form, and for a feature contributing to the origin of the high spin-low spin equilibrium exhibited by MbN3 [Beetlestone, J., & George, P. (1964) Biochemistry 5, 707-714]. The ESEEM results have allowed a correlation to be made between the orientation of the g tensor axes, the orientation of the p-pi orbital of the proximal imidazole nitrogen, and sigma- and pi-bonding features of the axial ligands. Furthermore, the proximal imidazole is suggested to act as a pi-acceptor in low-spin heme complexes in order to support strong sigma electron donation from the lone pair orbital to iron. An evaluation of the nitrogen nuclear hyperfine coupling parameters for the porphyrin pyrrole sites in MbRS reveals a large inequivalence in isotropic components consistent with an orientation of rhombic axes (and g tensor axes) that eclipses the Fe-Npyrrole vector directions.