Kinetic study of catalytic CO2 hydration by metal-substituted biomimetic carbonic anhydrase model complexes

The rapid rise of the CO2 level in the atmosphere has spurred the development of CO2 capture methods such as the use of biomimetic complexes that mimic carbonic anhydrase. In this study, model complexes with tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPA) were synthesized using various transition metals (Zn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+) to control the intrinsic proton-donating ability. The pKa of the water coordinated to the metal, which indicates its proton-donating ability, was determined by potentiometric pH titration and found to increase in the order [(TPA)Cu(OH2)]2+ < [(TPA)Ni(OH2)]2+ < [(TPA)Zn(OH2)]2+. The effect of pKa on the CO2 hydration rate was investigated by stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Because the water ligand in [(TPA)Zn(OH2)]2+ had the highest pKa, it would be more difficult to deprotonate it than those coordinated to Cu2+ and Ni2+. It was therefore expected that the complex would have the slowest rate for the reaction of the deprotonated water with CO2 to form bicarbonate. However, it ...