Reactive Pendant MnO in a Synthetic Structural Model of a Proposed S4 State in the Photosynthetic Oxygen Evolving Complex

The molecular mechanism of the Oxygen Evolving Center of photosystem II has been under debate for decades. One frequently cited proposal is the nucleophilic attack by water hydroxide on a pendant MnO moiety, though no chemical example of this reactivity at a manganese cubane cluster has been reported. We describe here the preparation, characterization, and a reactivity study of a synthetic manganese cubane cluster with a pendant manganese-oxo moiety. Reaction of this cluster with alkenes results in oxygen and hydrogen atom transfer reactions to form alcohol- and ketone-based oxygen-containing products. Nitrene transfer from core imides is negligible. The inorganic product is a cluster identical to the precursor, but with the pendant MnO moiety replaced by a hydrogen abstracted from the organic substrate, and is isolated in quantitative yield. 18O and 2H isotopic labeling studies confirm the transfer of atoms between the cluster and the organic substrate. The results suggest that the core cubane structure of this model compound remains intact, and that the pendant MnO moiety is preferentially reactive.