Carbonyl group transient formation

The antibiotic activity of certain (3-lactams depends largely on their interaction with two different groups of bacterial enzymes. (3-Lactams, like the penicillins and cephalosporins, inhibit the DD-peptidases/transpeptidases that are responsible for the final step of bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.63 Unfortunately, they are themselves destroyed by the [3-lactamases,64 which thereby provide much of the resistance to these antibiotics. Class A, C, and D [3-lactamases and DD-peptidases all have a conserved serine residue in the active site whose hydroxyl group is the primary nucleophile that attacks the substrate carbonyl. Catalysis in both cases involves a double-displacement reaction with the transient formation of an acyl-enzyme intermediate. The major distinction between [3-lactamases and their evolutionary parents the DD-peptidase residues is the lifetime of the acyl-enzyme it is short in (3-lactamases and long in the DD-peptidases.65-67... 

However, it is not certain whether the isocyanate or the carbamate is the acylating agent in such reaction. In fact, as depicted in scheme 138, it is possible that this reaction could proceed through a mechanism involving the transient formation of methyl isocyanate rather than through the normal addition (A- ) directly to the carbonyl group followed by loss of acetaldehyde. 

These compounds all closely resemble the corresponding benzene compounds in their reactivity because the carbonyl group cannot interact mesomerically with the ring nitrogen. The pyridine 2- (picolinic), 3- (nicotinic), and 4- (isonicotinic) acids exist almost entirely in their zwitterionic forms in aqueous solution they are slightly stronger acids than benzoic acid. Decarboxylation of picolinic acids is relatively easy and results in the transient formation of the same type of ylide which is responsible for specific proton a-exchange of pyridine in acid solution (see section 5.1.2. ). This transient ylide can be trapped by aromatic or aliphatic aldehydes in a reaction known as the Hammick reaction. As implied by this mechanism, quaternary salts of... 

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