Atrazine is an herbicide which has been used internationally. However, due to its negative effects on the ecosystem and living organisms, it has been banned in Europe but remains an active product in the United States. When atrazine was first used, there was no known degradation mechanism, causing its accumulation in the environment. Now, due to bacterial evolution, an enzymatic pathway containing atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) provides a mechanism for atrazine degradation.<br/>The goal of this research is to better understand and build upon the organic and inorganic synthesis of trispyrazolylborate (Tp) ligand-metal complexes with various substitutions on the pyrazole reagent. This will provide valuable information on synthesizing a ligand which can be a structural and mechanistic mimic of AtzA. The Tp ligand complex was selected because of its stability and similarity to the binding site of AtzA. The synthesis will be observed under varying temperatures to document specific temperature requirements and durations for the different substitutions used.<br/>In this research, isopropyl and methyl functional groups will be employed for the substitutions in various configurations. Once the ligand has been formed, it is reacted with a metal to form the ligand complex. Two different metals will be employed: iron and zinc. These two metals were selected because iron is the metal naturally found in AtzA; however, zinc is most commonly found in deaminase enzymes which are capable of this type of chemistry. The synthetic chemistry of the Tp-metal-atrazine complexes will be explored.

Synthesis of substituted trispyrazolylborate ligand-metal complexes as atrazine chlorohydrolase mimics

2019 Spring National Meeting

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