Manganese clusters with relevance to photosystem II

Achieving a synthetic analogue of the photosystem II (PS II) active site that possesses functional activity remains one of the challenges in the field of bioinorganic chemistry. In this area, the synthesis of high-valent oxo-bridged multinuclear manganese clusters with varied nuclearity continues to be the center of activity. This review covers the synthesis and properties of biologically relevant dinuclear, trinuclear, and tetranuclear manganese complexes reported during the period 1975-2003 with emphasis on recently developed systems that have direct and/or indirect implications toward the PSII water oxidase. It also briefly discusses the spectroscopic properties of the PSII Mn//4 cluster and proposed mechanistic aspects of oxygen evolution that have been previously reviewed.