Design and structure analysis of artificial metalloproteins: selective coordination of His64 to copper complexes with square-planar structure in the apo-myoglobin scaffold.

apo-Myoglobin (apo-Mb) was reconstituted with three copper complexes: CuII(Sal-Phe) (1; Sal-Phe = N-salicylidene-L-phenylalanato), CuII(Sal-Leu) (2; Sal-Leu = N-salicylidene-L-leucinato), and CuII(Sal-Ala) (3; Sal-Ala = N-salicylidene-L-alanato). The crystal structures of 1.apo-Mb (1.65 Angstrom resolution) and 2.apo-Mb (1.8 Angstrom resolution) show that the coordination geometry around the CuII atom in apo-Mb is distorted square-planar with tridentate Sal-X and a Nepsilon atom of His64 in the apo-Mb cavity and the plane of these copper complexes is perpendicular to that of heme. These results suggest that the apo-Mb cavity can hold metal complexes with various coordination geometries.