Iron catalyzed oxidation chemistry:from C-H bond activation to DNA cleavag

摘要

The synthetic iron complex Fe(N4Py) can be employed as a catalyst in the aerobic oxidation of DNA. The resulting oxidized DNA strand is rather unstable and results in cleavage of the DNA strand into two pieces. As for now, it was only possible with Fe(N4Py) or other synthetic iron complexes as catalyst to cut only one DNA strand at the same time. The covalent linking of two Fe(N4Py) complexes together results in a new dinuclear complex, which is capable of addressing both DNA stands at the same time. This is a very interesting finding, since the mechanism of action of many anticancer drugs (such as the natural compound bleomycin) relies on this property. In another benchmark reaction, namely the oxidation of cyclohexane with peracids as oxidants catalyzed by Fe(N4Py), a high-valent iron(IV) oxo intermediate was found to be responsible for the oxidation activity. The presence of this species has been established with various spectroscopic techniques and it is plausible that in many other oxidation processes this intermediates plays an important role.