Abstract
THE enzyme nitrogenase catalyses the reaction: 
Nitrogenase is a metalloenzyme containing iron and molybdenum both of which are essential for catalytic activity. Reduction of nitrogen is thought to proceed in two-electron steps via bound intermediates at binuclear molybdenum and iron centres with the oxidation state of molybdenum changing possibly from 3+ to 6+ (refs. 1 and 2). Shilov et al.3 suggested that the 3+ oxidation state of molybdenum participated in the catalytic reduction of dinitrogen to hydrazine in an aqueous system at pH > 7 containing initially molybdate (VI), vanadium (II) or titanium (III), and magnesium (II). In view of this work and evidence4 that bound hydrazine is an intermediate in biological nitrogen fixation we have studied the reactions of hydrazine with binuclear molybdenum (III) and (V) in the compounds μ-dioxo-bis[triaquochloromolybdenum(III)], (I), and caesium μ-dioxo-bis[aquodichloro-oxomolybdenum(V)],(II)
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MITCHELL, P., SCARLE, R. Role of Reactions of Molybdenum Compounds with Hydrazine in Nitrogen Fixation. Nature 240, 417–418 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/240417a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/240417a0
