Hydrogen bonding to the bound dioxygen in oxy cobaltous myoglobin reduces the superhyperfine coupling to the proximal histidine.

Electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy was used to study the electron-nuclear coupling in two oxygenated cobalt-substituted hemoproteins, myoglobin (oxyCoMb) and a monomeric hemoglobin from Glycera dibranchiata (oxyCoHbgly). The modulation frequency components in ESEEM spectra of both proteins arose from the coupling to the N epsilon of the proximal histidyl imidazole. The hyperfine and quadrupole coupling parameters for these two nitrogens, calculated by computer spectral simulation, are Aiso = 2.46 MHz, e2qQ = 2.15 MHz, and eta = 0.4 for oxyCoMb and Aiso = 3.70 MHz, e2qQ = 2.70 MHz, and eta = 0.5 for oxyCoHbgly. A hyperfine coupling of 0.6 MHz, found for oxyCoMb in D2O but not for oxyCoHbgly in D2O, was assigned to the coupling to a deuteron that is hydrogen-bonded to the O2 ligand in oxyCoMb. This hydrogen bonding is believed to be responsible for the reduction in hyperfine and nuclear quadrupole coupling to the proximal histidyl imidazole N epsilon in oxyCoMb. A molecular orbital model for O2 adducts of cobaltous compounds [Tovrog et al. (1976) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 98, 5144] was used to understand the hydrogen bond-induced reduction in 14N superhyperfine coupling in oxyCoMb.