A W/Cu Synthetic Model for the Mo/Cu Cofactor of Aerobic CODH Indicates That Biochemical CO Oxidation Requires a...

Constructing synthetic models of the Mo/Cu active site of aerobic carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) has been a long-standing synthetic challenge thought to be crucial for understanding how atmospheric concentrations of CO and CO₂ are regulated in the global carbon cycle by chemolithoautotrophic bacteria and archaea. Here we report a W/Cu complex that is among the closest synthetic mimics constructed to date, enabled by a silyl protection/deprotection strategy that provided access to a kinetically stabilized complex with mixed O^2-/S^2- ligation between (bdt)(O)W^VI and Cu^I(NHC) (bdt = benzene dithiolate, NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) sites. Differences between the inorganic core's structural and electronic features outside the protein environment relative to the native CODH cofactor point to a biochemical CO oxidation mechanism that requires a strained active site geometry, with Lewis acid/base frustration enforced by the protein secondary structure. This new mechanistic insight has the potential to inform synthetic design strategies for multimetallic energy storage catalysts.