Reduction of nitrous oxide to dinitrogen by a mixed valent tricopper-disulfido cluster

The greenhouse gas N(2)O is converted to N(2) by a mu-sulfido-tetracopper active site in the enzyme nitrous oxide reductase (N(2)OR) via a process postulated to involve mu-1,3 coordination of N(2)O to two Cu(I) ions. In efforts to develop synthetic models of the site with which to test mechanistic hypotheses, we have prepared a localized mixed valent Cu(II)Cu(I)(2) cluster bridged in a mu-eta(2):eta(1):eta(1) fashion by disulfide, [L(3)Cu(3)(mu(3)-S(2))]X(2) (L = 1,4,7-trimethyl-triazacyclononane, X = O(3)SCF(3)(-) or SbF(6)(-)). This cluster exhibits spectroscopic features superficially similar to those of the active site in N(2)OR and reacts with N(2)O to yield N(2) in a reaction that models the function of the enzyme. Computations implicate a transition state structure that features mu-1,1-bridging of N(2)O via its O-atom to a [L(2)Cu(2)(mu-S(2))](+) fragment and provide chemical precedence for an alternative pathway for N(2)O reduction by N(2)OR.