Vitamin B12 as an allosteric cofactor; dual fluorescence, hysteresis, oscillations and the selection of corrin over porphyrin

Studies of the emission spectra of four Co(III) cobinamides (diaquo-, aquohydroxo-, dihydroxo- and dicyano-) show (1) that the excited states corresponding to the alphabeta and epsilon absorption bands behave like the S(1) and S(2) levels in the non-alternant hydrocarbon azulene (with emission from S(2)> S(1) in violation of Kasha's rule) and (2) that the excited states include a TICT (twisted intramolecular charge transfer) mechanism, as in the simpler cyanines, but where the TICT state gives rise to dual fluorescence instead of cis-trans isomerisation. Combined with the previously reported dual fluorescence from the S(1) level in synthetic metal corrinoids and in the naturally-occurring metal-free corrin, this provides evidence that the existence of an additional (metastable) ground state with a significantly different vibronic splitting and nuclear configuration is an intrinsic property of the basic corrin ligand (irrespective of the nature of the side-chains and the metal ion or even the absence of a metal) which distinguishes it from porphyrin. The occurrence of hysteresis (and its associated oscillations) in redox reactions of the cobinamides involving both the Co(III/II) and Co(II/I) couples indicates that the corrin ligand also has an intrinsic ability to exist in different conformations or "allosteric" forms with differing redox potential, which further distinguishes it from the porphyrin ligand. Possible links between the existence of an additional metastable ground state and of allosteric changes and the likely reasons for the selection of corrin over a porphyrin for the vitamin B(12)-dependent enzymes are discussed.