Low-frequency EPR of ferrimyoglobin fluoride and ferrimyoglobin cyanide: a case study on the applicability of broadband analysis to high-spin hemoproteins and to HALS hemoproteins

An EPR spectrometer has been developed that can be tuned to many frequencies in the range of ca 0.1–15 GHz. Applicability has been tested on ferrimyoglobin fluoride (MbF) and ferrimyoglobin cyanide (MbCN). MbF has a high-spin (S = 5/2) spectrum with (19)F superhyperfine splitting that is only resolved in X-band along the heme normal. Low-frequency EPR also resolves the splitting in the heme plane. Measurement of linewidth as a function of frequency provides the basis for an analysis of inhomogeneous broadening in terms of g-strain, zero-field distribution, unresolved superhyperfine splittings and dipolar interaction. Rhombicity in the g tensor is found to be absent. MbCN (S = 1/2) has a highly anisotropic low spin (HALS) spectrum for which g(x) cannot be determined unequivocally in X-band. Low-frequency EPR allows for measurement of the complete spectrum and determination of the g-tensor. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00775-022-01948-1.