Probing the nitrite and nitric oxide reductase activity of cbb3 oxidase: resonance Raman detection of a six-coordinate ferrous heme–nitrosyl species in the binuclear b3/CuB center

Abstract

In this work we report the first spectroscopic evidence demonstrating that cbb₃ oxidase catalyzes the reduction of nitrite to nitrous oxide under reducing anaerobic conditions. The reaction proceeds through the formation of a ferrous six-coordinate heme b₃–nitrosyl species that has been characterized by resonance Raman spectroscopy.