Important role of hydrogen peroxide for storing of iron ions in human L-subunit ferritin

The tetranuclear iron(III) compound where two μ-oxo bridged iron(III) complexes are bridged by four carboxylato groups of H(dpal), was isolated from the reaction mixture of Fe(dpal)Cl2 and hydrogen peroxide, implying that hydrogen peroxide contributes to the formation of an oxo-bridge diiron species via O–O bond cleavage (H(dpal)=N,N-bis(2-picolylmethyl)-β-alanine). This suggests that hydrogen peroxide released in H-subunit of human herritin plays an important role for storing of iron atoms in L-subunit of human ferritin.