Active-site-directed chemical modifications

Enhanced activity of an immobilized lipase promoted by site-directed chemical modification with polymers. Process Biochem., 45 (4), 534-541. 

The procedure to phosphorylate riboflavin derivatives on a preparative scale has recently been improved . These preparations, and also commercial FMN, contain a considerable amount of riboflavin phosphate isomers, which are difficult to separate by column chromatography. This problem is emphasized in the chemical synthesis of FAD where the yield is rather low (20-25 %). In this context, it is surprising that a modification of the synthesis of FAD from FMN published by Cramer and Neuhoeffer has not been noticed by workers in the flavin field. According to Cramer and Neuhoeffer, the yield of the chemical synthesis of FAD is drastically improved ( 70 % pure FAD). The procedure was successfully applied in the author s own laboratory (yield 60-70%). It is expected that the improved procedure of the FAD synthesis will stimulate the active-site directed studies on flavoproteins because the problem of separating FMN or FAD from their synthetic by-products has already been solved by use of FMN- or FAD-specific affinity column... 

An affinity label, or active-site-directed irreversible inhibitor, is a chemically reactive compound that is designed to resemble a substrate of an enzyme, so that it binds specifically to the active site and forms covalent bonds with the protein residues.1-3 Affinity labels are very useful for identifying catalytically important residues and determining their pKa values from the pH dependence of the rate of modification. 

Chemical Modification by Active-Site-Directed Reagents Elliott Shaw... 

E. Shaw inP. D. Boyer, Ed, Chemical Modification by Active-Site Directed Reagents, Acch demic Press, New York, 191Q,pp. 91-147. 

In a broad sense an enzyme is specifically inhibited when its active site is blocked physically and/or chemically without significant alteration of the rest of the molecule. For this, many types of covalent inhibitors have been developed. The desired goal is chemical modification of an active site amino acid residue of the enzyme and subsequent loss of catalytic activity. The most common approach has been the synthesis of structurally and chemically reactive analogues of a substrate of the target enzyme. Such inhibitors have been referred to as active-site-directed irreversible inhibitors or affinity labels (312,313). Generally the affinity label has a reactive electrophilic substituent that can generate a stable covalent bond with an active site nucleophilic... 

While it is inherently probable that product formation will be most readily initiated at sites of effective contact between reactants (A IB), it is improbable that this process alone is capable of permitting continued product formation at low temperature for two related reasons. Firstly (as discussed in detail in Sect. 2.1.1) the area available for chemical contact in a mixture of particles is a very small fraction of the total surface (and, indeed, this total surface constitutes only a small proportion of the reactant present). Secondly, bulk diffusion across a barrier layer is usually an activated process, so that interposition of product between the points of initial contact reduces the ease, and therefore the rate, of interaction. On completion of the first step in the reaction, the restricted zones of direct contact have undergone chemical modification and the continuation of reaction necessitates a transport process to maintain the migration of material from one solid to a reactive surface of the other. On increasing the temperature, surface migration usually becomes appreciable at temperatures significantly below those required for the onset of bulk diffusion within a product phase. It is to be expected that components of the less refractory constituent will migrate onto the surfaces of the other solid present. These ions are chemisorbed as the first step in product formation and, in a subsequent process, penetrate the outer layers of the... 

The most conventional investigations on the adsorption of both modifier and substrate looked for the effect of pH on the amount of adsorbed tartrate and MAA [200], The combined use of different techniques such as IR, UV, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron microscopy (EM), and electron diffraction allowed an in-depth study of adsorbed tartrate in the case of Ni catalysts [101], Using these techniques, the general consensus was that under optimized conditions a corrosive modification of the nickel surface occurs and that the tartrate molecule is chemically bonded to Ni via the two carbonyl groups. There were two suggestions as to the exact nature of the modified catalyst Sachtler [195] proposed adsorbed nickel tartrate as chiral active site, whereas Japanese [101] and Russian [201] groups preferred a direct adsorption of the tartrate on modified sites of the Ni surface. 

One example of the combined use of site-directed mutagenesis with chemical modification has been provided by the work of Bowler et al. with yeast iso-l-cytochrome c [15]. These workers introduced a His residue at position 62 to provide a site for attachment of a pentammineruthenium complex. Introduction of a second redox-active metal center to the protein at this position permitted... 

Chemical modification of wood surfaces can be employed in order to provide active sites to allow for self-bonding directly, or to allow for covalent bonding between wood... 

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