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Iron chemistry at the service of life
Author(s) -
Sánchez Manu,
Sabio Laura,
Gálvez Natividad,
Capdevila Mercè,
DominguezVera Jose M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
iubmb life
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.132
H-Index - 113
eISSN - 1521-6551
pISSN - 1521-6543
DOI - 10.1002/iub.1602
Subject(s) - chemistry , redox , radical , coordination complex , catalysis , myoglobin , abiogenesis , nanotechnology , combinatorial chemistry , organic chemistry , metal , astrobiology , materials science , biology
Iron is an essential element for almost all organisms on Earth. It is necessary for a number of crucial processes such as hemoglobin and myoglobin transport and storage of oxygen in mammals; electron transfer support in a variety of iron‐sulfur protein or cytochrome reactions; and activation and catalysis of reactions of a wide range of substrate like alkanes, olefins, and alcohols. Living organisms adopted iron as the main metal to carry out all of these functions due to the rich coordination chemistry of its two main redox states, Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ , and because of its abundance in the Earth's crust and oceans. This paper presents an overview of the coordination chemistry of iron that makes it suitable for a large variety of functions within biological systems. Despite iron's chemical advantages, organisms were forced to manage with some drawbacks: Fe 3+ insolubility and the formation of toxic radicals, especially the hydroxyl radical. Iron chemistry within biology is an example of how organisms evolved by creating molecular machinery to overcome these difficulties and perform crucial processes with extraordinary elegance and efficiency. © 2017 IUBMB Life, 69(6):382–388, 2017