This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program with a contribution from the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Office of Multidisciplinary Activities for instrumentation supports research in the laboratory of Alvin L. Crumbliss in the Department of Chemistry at Duke University. The proposed work will explore the effects of second sphere coordination on the chemistry (transport properties, reduction potentials and substitution kinetics) of iron siderophore complexes. Siderophore complexes are responsible for transporting iron from the environment into bacterial cells. Through a collaborative effort, pendant ligands would be attached onto a number of siderophores or synthetic hydroxamic acids in order to study specific second-sphere effects. Complexes will also be enclosed into micelles in order to mimic the effect of cell membranes. The chemistry of iron siderophores provides insight into how iron is transported into cells in the environment. This research explores how interactions through ligands that are not directly attached to the iron affect the uptake, release and transport across cell membranes of this essential element in all living systems.
