A Ketoacids

As shown in equation 12, the chemistry of this developer s oxidation and decomposition has been found to be less simple than first envisioned. One oxidation product, tetramethyl succinic acid (18), is not found under normal circumstances. Instead, the products are the a-hydroxyacid (20) and the a-ketoacid (22). When silver bromide is the oxidant, only the two-electron oxidation and hydrolysis occur to give (20). When silver chloride is the oxidant, a four-electron oxidation can occur to give (22). In model experiments the hydroxyacid was not converted to the keto acid. Therefore, it seemed that the two-electron intermediate triketone hydrate (19) in the presence of a stronger oxidant would reduce more silver, possibly involving a species such as (21) as a likely reactive intermediate. This mechanism was verified experimentally, using a controlled, constant electrochemical potential. At potentials like that of silver chloride, four electrons were used at lower potentials only two were used (104). 

Heterocyclic enamines A -pyrroline and A -piperideine are the precursors of compounds containing the pyrrolidine or piperidine rings in the molecule. Such compounds and their N-methylated analogs are believed to originate from arginine and lysine (291) by metabolic conversion. Under cellular conditions the proper reaction with an active methylene compound proceeds via an aldehyde ammonia, which is in equilibrium with other possible tautomeric forms. It is necessary to admit the involvement of the corresponding a-ketoacid (12,292) instead of an enamine. The a-ketoacid constitutes an intermediate state in the degradation of an amino acid to an aldehyde. a-Ketoacids or suitably substituted aromatic compounds may function as components in active methylene reactions (Scheme 17). 

Figure A8.18 A racemic mixture of a-hydroxyacids (like L, D-lactate) can be transformed via the corresponding a-ketoacid (pyruvate) to the desired L-amino acid (L-alanine) with cofactor recycling.

Enaminosulphoxides 459 have been obtained in the reaction of the carbanion of methyl methylthiomethyl sulphoxide 324 with nitriles. This procedure has been applied for converting nitriles into a-aminoacids 460527 and a-ketoacids 461528 (equation 275). 

It should be noted that the absence of a proton in the a position in the case of N-Br-aminoisobutyric acid makes unoperative its decomposition to form an a-ketoacid, and the slight increase in the observed reaction rate constant upon increasing the NaOH concentration can be attributed to a secondary decomposition process, probably leading to the formation of an hydrazine (refs. 22 - 24). 

A number of factors complicate the aerobic metabolism of amino acids—different enzymes may be used even for the same amino acid the enzymes may be inducible or constitutive depending on their function a-ketoacids may be produced by deamination or amines by decarboxylation. 

As an alternative to peptidic inhibitors, which display electrostatic interactions with the active site, covalent inhibitors have also been described recently. Such peptides bear a functional group that can react reversibly with the catalytic serine of the protease. These include aldehydes, a-ketoacid derivates, lactams and boronates. 

Another model is based on the fact that the genetic code shows a number of regularities, some of which have already been mentioned above. It is suspected that codons beginning with C, A or U code for amino acids which were formed from a-ketoacids (or a-ketoglutarate, 1-KG), oxalacetate (OAA) and pyruvate. This new model, which is quite different from the previous models, assumes that a covalent complex formed from two nucleotides acted as a catalyst for chemical reactions such as the reductive amination of a-ketoacids, pyruvate and OAA. More recent analyses suggest that the rTCA cycle (see Sect. 7.3) could have served as a source of simple a-ketoacids, including glyoxylate, pyruvate, OAA and a-KG. a-Ketoacids could, however, also have been formed via a reductive acetyl-CoA reaction pathway. The bases of the two nucleotides specify the amino acid synthesized and were retained until the modern three-letter codes were established (Copley et al., 2005). 

Among the mononuclear non-haem iron enzymes catalysing hydroxylation reactions (Table 2.3) we can distinguish between intramolecular dioxygenases and external mononoxygenases. The former can be divided into those which are pterin-dependent and those which use a-ketoacids such as a-keto glutarate as obligatory... 

The a-ketoacid-dependent enzymes are distinguished from other non-haem iron enzymes by their absolute requirement for an a-ketoacid cofactor as well as Fe(II) and O2 for activity. They catalyse two types of reaction (Table 2.3), hydroxyla-tion and oxidation. In both, the a-ketoglutarate is decarboxylated and one oxygen atom introduced into the succinate formed in the hydroxylases, the other oxygen atom is introduced into the substrate, while in the oxidases it is found in water, together with the cyclized product. In general these enzymes require one equivalent of Fe(II) an a-ketoacid, usually a-ketoglutarate and ascorbate. Examples of these enzymes include proline 4-hydroxylase, prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase, which... 

However, cyanide ion is not suitable for inducing a benzoin-type condensation between two aliphatic aldehydes, since the basic character of this ion induces an aldol condensation between them. In Nature, nevertheless, condensations of this type take place easily. As Breslow proposed in 1958 [8], such condensations are catalysed by thiamine pyrophosphate 6 (or cocarboxylase), the active part of which is the conjugate base of the "thiazolium cation present in it. According to Breslow [8a], the mechanism is, in fact, identical to that described for the cyanide ion (see Scheme 5.7) that is to say, the conjugate base of thiamine (TPP ) reacts with an "aldehyde equivalent -such as an a-ketoacid 2- to generate the corresponding "active aldehyde" 8 with umpoled reactivity, which then reacts with the electrophile to give finally, after elimination of "thiamine anion", a 1,2-D system (9). 

Answer C. Maple syrup urine disease substrates are branched chain a-ketoacids derived from the branched chain amino acids. 

In isocitrate, there is a CHOH group that is available for oxidation via the coenzyme NAD+ and the enzyme isocitrate dehydrogenase. NADH will then be reoxidized via oxidative phosphorylation, and lead to ATP synthesis. The oxidation product from isocitrate is oxalosuccinate, a -ketoacid that easily... 

An acyl-transfer and redox coenzyme containing two sulfhydryl groups that form a dithiolane ring in the oxidized (disulfide) form. The redox potential at pH 7 is -0.29 volts. Lipoic acid is attached to the e-amino group of lysyl residues of transacetylases (subunit of a-ketoacid dehydrogenase complexes), thereby permitting acyl... 

Maple syrup disease Branched chain a-ketoacid dehydrogenase... 

Methods for the preparation of pyridazino[4,5-. ][l,4]thiazines were reviewed in CHEC-II(1996) <1996CHEC-II(7)737>. The system has also been prepared by cyclization of a ketoacid with hydrazine (Equation 165) <1988DEP3701737>, but no further chemistry of this system has been reported. 

The C-allyl ketoester 69 represents a key precursor for the stereoselective synthesis of the disaccharide analogue 70 in which an ulosonic residue could be installed via the dihydroxylation of the double bond of 69 (equation 98). These glucidic a-ketoacids are involved in biosynthetic pathways of bacteria and constitute important targets for the design of new antibacterial agents. 

Enzyme models 18 and 19, which catalyze the decarboxylation, are typical examples of double recognition (87). These metalloenzyme models recognize a-ketoacid as the specific substrate by the hydrophobic interaction and coordination interaction as shown in Fig. 24 and Table XVII. Thus, the presence of the second recognition site, triamino-Zn2+, results in an increase... 

Paxton, R. Harris, R.A. Isolation of rabbit liver branched chain a-ketoacid dehydrogenase and regulation by phosphorylation. J. Biol. Chem., 257, 14433-14439 (1982)... 

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