Heme-containing nitrite reductases bind and activate nitrite by a mechanism that is
proposed to involve interactions with Brønsted acidic residues in the secondary coordination
sphere. To model this functionality using synthetic platforms that incorporate a Lewis acidic
site, heterobimetallic CoMg complexes supported by diimine–dioxime ligands are
described. The neutral (μ-NO2) CoMg species 3 is synthesized from the [(μ-OAc)(Br)
CoMg]+ complex 1 by a sequence of one-electron reduction and ligand substitution …