Issue 24, 2022

An unexpected all-metal aromatic tetranuclear silver cluster in human copper chaperone Atox1

Abstract

Metal clusters, such as iron–sulfur clusters, play key roles in sustaining life and are intimately involved in the functions of metalloproteins. Herein we report the formation and crystal structure of a planar square tetranuclear silver cluster when silver ions were mixed with human copper chaperone Atox1. Quantum chemical studies reveal that two Ag 5s1 electrons in the tetranuclear silver cluster fully occupy the one bonding molecular orbital, with the assumption that this Ag4 cluster is Ag42+, leading to extensive electron delocalization over the planar square and significant stabilization. This bonding pattern of the tetranuclear silver cluster represents an aromatic all-metal structure that follows a 4n + 2 electron counting rule (n = 0). This is the first time an all-metal aromatic silver cluster was observed in a protein.

Graphical abstract: An unexpected all-metal aromatic tetranuclear silver cluster in human copper chaperone Atox1

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
22 dec 2021
Accepted
28 mei 2022
First published
30 mei 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 7269-7275

An unexpected all-metal aromatic tetranuclear silver cluster in human copper chaperone Atox1

X. Wang, Z. Han, W. Wei, H. Hu, P. Li, P. Sun, X. Liu, Z. Lv, F. Wang, Y. Cao, Z. Guo, J. Li and J. Zhao, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 7269 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC07122J

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