Edward I. Solomon

The title of his talk is "Activating Metal Sites for Biological Electron Transfer".

The lecture will be presented on June 4, 2024 at 10 AM, J.Heyrovský Institute, Rudolf Brdička Lecture Hall.    

Metal sites in biology often exhibit unique spectroscopic features that reflect novel geometric and electronic structures imposed by the protein that are key to reactivity. The Blue copper active site involved in long range, rapid biological electron transfer is a classic example. This talk presents an overview of both traditional and synchrotron based spectroscopic methods and their coupling to electronic structure calculations to understand the unique features of the Blue copper active site and their contributions to function. The relation of this active site to other biological electron transfer sites is further developed. In particular ultrafast XFEL spectroscopy is used to evaluate the met-S-Fe bond in cyt c, and its control by the protein (called the “entatic state”) in determining function (electron transfer vs. apoptosis).

Edward I. Solomon is a prominent physical-inorganic, bioinorganic, and theoretical inorganic chemist, who advanced spectroscopic and electronic structure analyses, elucidating catalytic metal enzymatic sites, electron and oxo transfer processes and O2 activation. He obtained Ph.D. from Princeton University, after postdoc stays in Denmark and at Caltech initiated his career at MIT, and later joined Stanford University as the Monroe E. Spaght Professor of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Photon Science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. His work has been recognized with ACS National Awards, the Alfred Bader Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry's Centenary Medal, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences.