CATALYTIC REDUCTION OF DINITROGEN IN PROTIC MEDIA - CHEMICAL-MODELS OF NITROGENASE

Examination of the possibilities of catalytic dinitrogen reduction in protic media shows that an optimum catalyst should be able to form a binuclear complex MNNM (with a d**2 or d**3 electronic configuration of M) bound to a polynuclear cluster of reductant atoms capable of transferring electrons to the coordinated N//2 molecule. Accordingly, structural investigation of nitrogenase indicates that N//2 activating MoFe-protein concentrates all its iron-sulfur clusters in a single active center having a high electron capacity.