Bio-organometallic Approaches to Nitrogen Fixation Chemistry
- Creators
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Peters, Jonas C.
- Mehn, Mark P.
- Other:
- Tolman, William B.
Abstract
Biological and industrial nitrogen fixation are the processes by which one of the most inert molecules, N_2, is transformed into a bioavailable nitrogen source (e.g. NH_3) that can be incorporated into all nitrogen-containing biomolecules [1]. As such, nitrogen fixation is essential to sustaining life on this planet, and has attracted intense scrutiny among biological and chemical communities for decades [2-4]. The mechanism by which nitrogenase enzymes promote the biological reduction of nitrogen under ambient conditions remains an unsolved and fascinating problem [4-6]. Nature's solution to fixing nitrogen stands in sharp contrast to that which humanity has adopted, i.e. the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia synthesis that is carried out at approximately 200 atm and 500°C. This Herculean feat of chemical engineering provides, in net, about 50% of the nitrogen atoms that wind up in all human beings on this planet [7]. From a chemists perspective, however, this remains a brute force and high-energy solution to the nitrogen fixation problem, especially given the knowledge that nature can fix N_2 under ambient conditions.
Additional Information
© 2006 Wiley-VCH. We are grateful to the NIH for their generous support: GM-070757 (J.C.P.), post-doctoral fellowship GM-072291 (M.P.M.). We also express thanks to Dr. Johannes Kaestner and Professor Peter Blöchl for providing the coordinate file to generate Fig. 3.14.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 27268
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20111018-082532542
- NIH
- GM-070757
- NIH
- GM-072291
- Created
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2011-10-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-11-26Created from EPrint's last_modified field