The Metal-Driven Biogeochemistry of Gaseous Compounds in the Environment (Metal Ions in Life Sciences Book 14)

MILS-14 provides a most up-to-date view of the exciting biogeochemistry of gases in our environment as driven mostly by microorganisms. These employ a machinery of sophisticated metalloenzymes, where especially transition metals (such as Fe, Ni, Cu, Mo, W) play a fundamental role, that is, in the activation, transformation, and syntheses of gases like dihydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, acetylene, and those of the biological nitrogen and sulfur cycles. The Metal-Driven Biogeochemistry of Gaseous Compounds in the Environment is a vibrant research area based mainly on structural and microbial biology, inorganic biological chemistry, and environmental biochemistry. All this is covered in an authoritative manner in 11 stimulating chapters, written by 26 internationally recognized experts, and supported by nearly 1200 references, informative tables, and about 100 illustrations (two thirds in color). MILS-14 also provides excellent information for teaching. Peter M. H. Kroneck is a bioinorganic chemist who is exploring the role of transition metals in biology, with a focus on functional and structural aspects of microbial iron, copper, and molybdenum enzymes and their impact on the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and sulfur. Martha E. Sosa Torres is an inorganic chemist, with special interests in magnetic properties of newly synthesized transition metal complexes and their reactivity towards molecular oxygen, applying kinetic, electrochemical, and spectroscopic techniques Front Matter....Pages i-xxxv The Early Earth Atmosphere and Early Life Catalysts....Pages 1-14 Living on Acetylene. A Primordial Energy Source....Pages 15-35 Carbon Monoxide. Toxic Gas and Fuel for Anaerobes and Aerobes: Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenases....Pages 37-69 Investigations of the Efficient Electrocatalytic Interconversions of Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide by Nickel-Containing Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenases....Pages 71-97 Understanding and Harnessing Hydrogenases, Biological Dihydrogen Catalysts....Pages 99-124 Biochemistry of Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase: The Nickel Metalloenzyme that Catalyzes the Final Step in Synthesis and the First Step in Anaerobic Oxidation of the Greenhouse Gas Methane....Pages 125-145 Cleaving the N,N Triple Bond: The Transformation of Dinitrogen to Ammonia by Nitrogenases....Pages 147-176 No Laughing Matter: The Unmaking of the Greenhouse Gas Dinitrogen Monoxide by Nitrous Oxide Reductase....Pages 177-210 The Production of Ammonia by Multiheme Cytochromes c ....Pages 211-236 Hydrogen Sulfide: A Toxic Gas Produced by Dissimilatory Sulfate and Sulfur Reduction and Consumed by Microbial Oxidation....Pages 237-277 Transformations of Dimethylsulfide....Pages 279-313 Back Matter....Pages 315-333