Alkyl Radical Generation by an Intramolecular Homolytic Substitution Reaction between Iron(II) and Trialkylsulfonium Groups.

Intramolecular, homolytic substitution reactions between iron(II) species and various trialkylsulfonium groups were directly observed in the gas phase upon collision-induced dissociation. In spite of the notoriously low reduction potential of trialkylsulfonium species and the mismatched oxidation potential of iron(II), the reactions proceed at moderate collision energies, forming an alkyl radical as well as a thioether coordinated to the iron. In contrast to classical homolytic substitutions, the attacking radical is a "metalloradical", namely iron(II) that is oxidized to iron(III) during the reaction. With this process we demonstrate that the conceptually analogous, putative radical generation step in radical S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) enzymes is possible and plausible. Further, we show that this kind of reaction only occurs in constrained systems with a defined geometry. Combining experimental measurements with DFT studies and NBO analyses allowed us to gain insights into the reactivity and transition states of these systems. Based on our findings, we challenge the notion of a collinear transition state in the radical generation step of radical SAM enzymes and propose it to be bent instead.