Spectrophotometric study of the reaction between cobalt(II)-dipeptide complexes and molecular oxygen

Summary The influence of pH and ligand structure on the reaction of cobalt(II) complexes with various dipeptides and molecular oxygen was examined. The minimum pH value required for the formation of dioxygen adducts was found to be about 6.5. This value should be related to amidic deprotonation of dipeptides, which seems to occur in the examined systems at particularly low values. The location and steric hindrance of the side chains of the dipeptides have a strong influence on the reaction rate. The presence of a substituent group on the N-terminal amino acid promotes oxygen coordination, while, when the substituent group is on the C-terminal residual, a decrease of reaction rate is observed.A stabilizing effect of the aromatic ring on the dioxygen adducts is found only when the substituent is in the C-terminal position, and seems to be independent of the presence of additional coordinating groups.Some information regarding the mechanism of the irreversible decomposition of the cobalt(II) complexes has been obtained by studying the effect of pH and ligand structure on the reaction rate.Work supported by National Research Council of Italy.