Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Inorganic chemistry

Deconstructing water oxidation

Nature Chemistry volume 5, pages 259–260 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

During photosynthesis, the oxygen-evolving complex oxidizes water to produce molecular oxygen. Now, a possible role for the calcium ion in this complex has been proposed based on the electrochemical properties of a series of synthetic heterometallic clusters.

There are many known varieties of the PSII enzyme but the OEC seems to be identical in each case. This conservation of the active-site structure has led to the idea that the specific combination and coordination of metal ions present in the OEC is necessary for its function. However, our understanding of how the structural environment and physical properties of these ions are linked to water oxidation remains incomplete2. Increasing the knowledge in this area requires a combination of several different approaches that range from protein crystallography to the study of synthetic analogues of the OEC.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Structure of the oxygen-evolving complex and the synthetic analogues reported by Agapie and co-workers.

References

  1. Umena, Y., Kawakami, K., J.-R. Shen, J.-R. & Kamiya, N. Nature 473, 55–60 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brudvig, G. W. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 363, 1211–1219 (2008).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tsui, E. Y., Tran, R., Yano, J. & Agapie, T. Nature Chem. 5, 293–299 10.1038/nchem.1578(2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Park, Y. J., Ziller, J. W. & Borovik, A. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 9258–9261 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mukherjee, S. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 2257–2262 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Stack, T. D. P. & Holm, R. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110, 2484–2494 (1988).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kanady, J. S., Tsui, E. Y., Day, M. W. & Agapie, T. Science 333, 733–736 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Park, Y. J. et al. Chem. Sci. 4, 717–726 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sarah A. Cook and A. S. Borovik are in the Department of Chemistry, University of California-Irvine, 1102 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, California 92697, USA,

    Sarah A. Cook & A. S. Borovik

Authors
  1. Sarah A. Cook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. S. Borovik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. S. Borovik.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cook, S., Borovik, A. Deconstructing water oxidation. Nature Chem 5, 259–260 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1606

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1606

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing