Sulfur K-Edge XAS and DFT Calculations on [Fe4S4]2+Clusters: Effects of H-bonding and Structural Distortion on Covalency and SpinTopology

Sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy of a hydrogen-bonded elongated [Fe{sub 4}S{sub 4}]{sup 2+} cube is reported. The data show that this synthetic cube is less covalent than a normal compressed cube with no hydrogen bonding. DFT calculations reveal that the observed difference in electronic structure has significant contributions from both the cluster distortion and from hydrogen bonding. The elongated and compressed Fe{sub 4}S{sub 4} structures are found to have different spin topologies (i.e., orientation of the delocalized Fe{sub 2}S{sub 2} subclusters which are antiferromagnetically coupled to each other). It is suggested that the H-bonding interaction with the counterion does not contribute to the cluster elongation. A magneto-structural correlation is developed for the Fe{sub 4}S{sub 4} cube that is used to identify the redoxactive Fe{sub 2}S{sub 2} subclusters in active sites of HiPIP and ferredoxin proteins involving these clusters