Carbamates hydrolysis reactions, 296, Table

Enzymatic Hydrolysis Reactions of Esters. Xenobiotic compounds containing esters or other acid derivatives in their structures (e.g., amides, carbamates, ureas, etc., see Table 17.3) are often readily hydrolyzed by microorganisms. To understand how enzymatic steps can be used to transform these substances, it is instructive to consider the hydrolases (i.e., enzymes that catalyze hydrolysis reactions) used by organisms to split naturally occurring analogs (e.g., fatty acid esters in lipids or amides in proteins). The same chemical processes, and possibly even some of the same enzymes themselves, are involved in the hydrolysis of xenobiotic substrates. 

Phenylcarbamates, or carbanilates, generally exhibit low water solubilities, and thus they are almost immobile in soil systems. Chlorpropham and Propham are readily volatilized from soil systems, but Terbutol and Carbaryl (Fig. 10, Table 3) are not. Ester- and amide-hydrolysis, N-dealkylation and hydroxylation are among the chemical reactions that carbamates undergo. The N-methylcar-bamate insecticides (Fig. 10, Table 3) commonly used in soils are Carbaryl, Methiocarb,Aldicarb,and Carbofuran [74,173]. 

A similar type of intramolecular reaction was achieved with basic carbamates of4-hydroxyanisole (8.134, X = MeO, n = 2 or 3, Fig. 8.10) [171]. The drug itself is a clinically effective melanocytotoxic agent. Intramolecular nucleophilic attack again resulted in cyclization-elimination, the pro-moiety being recovered as an imidazolidinone (Fig. 8.10, n = 2). In the series examined, the compounds were stable at pH 4, and became more reactive at higher pH values. At pH 7.4 and 37°, chain length and substitution at the two N-atoms had a marked influence on the f1/2 values for hydrolysis (Table 8.10). First, it is clear that a shorter chain (Fig. 8.10, n = 2) favors intramolecular attack, but a decrease in tm values for hydrolysis for three compared... 

Table 3.26 lists illustrative examples of cleavage reactions of support-bound N-aryl-carbamates, anilides, and /V-arylsulfonamidcs. /V-Arylcarbamatcs are more susceptible to attack by nucleophiles than /V-alkylcarbamates, and, if strong bases or nucleophiles are to be used in a reaction sequence, it might be a better choice to link the aniline to the support as an /V-bcnzyl derivative. Entry 7 (Table 3.26) is an example of a safety-catch linker for anilines, in which activation is achieved by enzymatic hydrolysis of a phenylacetamide to liberate a primary amine, which then cleaves the anilide. 

Carbamate pesticides are best analyzed by HPLC using postcolumn deriva-tization technique. Some common carbamate pesticides are listed in Table 2.19.1. Compounds are separated on a C-18 analytical column and then hydrolyzed with 0.05 N sodium hydroxide. Hydrolysis converts the carbamates to their methyl amines which are then reacted with o-phthalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol to form highly fluorescent derivatives. The derivatives are detected by a fluorescence detector. o-Phthaladehyde reaction solution is prepared by mixing a 10-mL aliquot of 1% o-phalaldehyde solution in methanol to 10 mL of acetonitrile containing 100 pL of 2-mercaptoethanol and then diluting to 1 L with 0.05 N sodium borate solution. 

A number of carbamates have been used as insecticides and a few as herbicides. Kinetic parameters for several of these compounds are summarized in Table 8.6. Note that the base-catalyzed reaction is the more important, however, some reports indicate that for some compounds, the direct reaction with water can be significant with values of 6-7. Unfortunately, there is only limited information in this area. Note that these data also illustrate how the substituents on the N influence hydrolysis. The feb values for the dimethyl compounds are orders of magnitude lower than the methyl counterparts. Aldicarb represents a variation in that the ester component of the molecule is derived from an oxime (RCH=NOH) rather than an alcohol. It also illustrates the significance of hydrolysis in understanding its environmental behavior. Aldicarb has been very effective in controUing insect pests in potatoes, but because of its high water solubility (6000 ppm) has been detected as a contaminant in groundwater. This effect has been observed only in acid (pH 5.5) but not in basic (pH 8.0) soils. 

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