Reactivity of Transition Metal Complexes with Small Molecules

Abstract

Metalloenzymes catalyze redox reactions crucial to life through coordination of small molecules such as O2, N2, H2 and NO. The chapter, after an informative survey of the pertinent natural processes, illustrates the redox chemistry of selected metal complexes able to coordinate such small molecules and the extent to which they can be considered biomimetic of the natural function. The different examples can be useful to inorganic chemists in terms of taking into consideration that well-defined redox parameters can dictate the conditions for more and more effective synthetic paths.