A novel diamagnetic 8 Fe cluster

CBGP researchers, in collaboration with the groups of Alex Guo and Emile Bominaar at the Carnegie Mellon University, use Mössbauer spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the Fe centers in NifB-co, the first complex Fe-S cluster intermediate in the FeMo-co biosynthetic pathway. NifB-co is a diamagnetic 8 Fe cluster with either formal (6Fe2+-2Fe3+) or (4Fe2+-4Fe3+) configurations. This study is at the forefront of complex metallocluster analysis, with the added interest of elucidating one of the most controversial steps in FeMo-co biosynthesis.