Biopterin structure

A number of nitrogen heterocyclic, aromatic compounds, riboflavin 26, folic acid 27a and biopterin 27b, isolated from natural sources, are related in structure to natural redox enzyme cofactors. The electrochemistry of these and related compounds has been studied extensively. 

The natural cofactor of the AAHs, BH4 (Scheme 2), is a heterocyclic compound chemically classified as a pteridine that includes a fused pyrimidine and pyrazine rings. As many other naturally occurring pteridines BH4 has a pterin structure, which includes an amino substituent in position 2 and an oxo group in position 4 of the pyrimidine ring. The term biopterin is reserved for pterins with a dihydroxypropyl group in position 6. 

Fig. 6.1.3 The chemical structure of the three oxidation stages of biopterin...

The two oxidation states of (17) that are relevant in biopterin-dependent redox reactions are the four-electron and two-electron reduced forms, tetrahydrobiopterin (19) and p-quinonoid dihydrobiopterin (20), respectively. The oxidation state between these two, i.e. a radical, may also be relevant though it has not been detected as an intermediate in enzymatic reactions. Structurally, pteridines and flavins are rather similar and hence show similar chemical behavior in many respects. As a redox coenzyme, (19) is not encountered nearly as frequently as nicotinamides or flavins. It is, however, the cofactor of three very... 

There was no obvious explanation for the side-chain chirality of biopterin or its related aromatic pterin derivatives in the CD spectra. This fact requires that structural determination of all newly found pterins must be carried out by comparison with optically active authentic samples. Indeed, almost all compounds have been obtained as aromatic pterins through the exploration of naturally occurring rare pterins and their structures have been generally determined by chemical syntheses from sugar derivatives, as descried in Sect. 3.2. From the viewpoint of characteristic fluorescence emissions, the application of FDCD to the configurational analyses of aromatic pterin derivatives has been carried out in previous studies [64,65]. Since FDCD analysis of aromatic pterins is approximately 100 times more sensitive than normal... 

Figure 23.31. Structure of One Subunit of Phenylalanine Hydroxylase. Mutations in the genes encoding this enzyme cause phenylketonuria. More than 200 point mutations have been identified in these genes. The positions of five mutations affecting the active site (blue), the biopterin-binding site (red), and other regions of the protein (purple) are indicated as colored spheres.

No I all cofaclyrs are derived from vitamins, Coenzyme Q, lipoic acid, dolichol phosphate, biopterin, heme, and molybdopterin are cofactors that are synthesized in the body from simple organic compounds. Heme and molybdopterin are relatively complex, from a nutritional point of view, because they require metal ions as part of their structure. 

Tyrosine monooxygenase uses biopterin as a cofactor. Biopterin is made in the body and is not a vitamin. Its structure resembles that of folic acid. Dopa decarboxylase is a vitamin B -requiring enzyme. Dopamine hydroxylase is a copper metalloenzyme. The active form of the enzyme contains copper in the reduced state (cuprous, Cu+). With each catalytic event, the copper is oxidized to the cupric state (Cu ). The enzyme uses ascorbic acid as a cofactor for converting the cupric copper back to cuprous copper. Thus, each catalytic event also results in the conversion of ascorbic acid to semidehydroascorbate. The semidehydroascorbate, perhaps by disproportionation, is converted to ascorbate and dehydroascorbate. The catalytic cycle of dopamine hydroxylase is shown in Figure 9,86. Dopamine hydroxylase, as well as the stored catecholamines, are located in special vesicles... 

Several imidazoles have been found to inhibit NOS, including 1-phenylimidazole, 2-phenylimidazole, and 4-phenylimidazole. These imidazoles bind heme in NOS and other enzymes. A search for isoform-specific inhibitors based on an imidazole structure has led to the discovery of l-(trifluoromethylphenyl) imidazole, N-(4-nitrophenacyl) imidazole, and N-(4-nitrophenyIacyl)-2-methyI-imidazole, below (54). The nitrophenylacylimidazoles are selective for nNOS rather than eNOS inhibition. They appear to bind to the tetrahydro-biopterin site and are competitive inhibitors of tetrahydrobiopterin binding. They are noncompetitive inhibitors of arginine binding. It appears that electron-withdrawing N-1 substituents enhance activity and nNOS selectivity. 

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