Cofactors transition metals

Chiral epoxides and their corresponding vicinal diols are very important intermediates in asymmetric synthesis [163]. Chiral nonracemic epoxides can be obtained through asymmetric epoxidation using either chemical catalysts [164] or enzymes [165-167]. Biocatalytic epoxidations require sophisticated techniques and have thus far found limited application. An alternative approach is the asymmetric hydrolysis of racemic or meso-epoxides using transition-metal catalysts [168] or biocatalysts [169-174]. Epoxide hydrolases (EHs) (EC 3.3.2.3) catalyze the conversion of epoxides to their corresponding vicinal diols. EHs are cofactor-independent enzymes that are almost ubiquitous in nature. They are usually employed as whole cells or crude... 

Dioxygenases often have broad substrate specificity and require only a minimal characteristic structure for substrate recognition [310], Transition metal or an organic cofactor mediates dioxygen activation needed by the oxygenases action. Iron and copper, in their lower oxidation states are the metals most commonly used, but also organic co-factors like dihydroflavin and tetrahydropterin are able to activate the oxygen molecule. 

As the above discussion indicates, assigning mechanisms to simple anation reactions of transition metal complexes is not simple. The situation becomes even more difficult for a complex enzyme system containing a metal cofactor at an active site. Methods developed to study the kinetics of enzymatic reactions according to the Michaelis-Menten model will be discussed in Section 2.2.4. 

Transition Metal-Catalyzed Regeneration of Nicotinamide Cofactors... 

The principal strategies of cofactor regeneration - namely the enzymatic, chemical and electrochemical approach - are presented in Scheme 43.2 and have been reviewed recently [17, 21-23]. This chapter does not intend to be exhaustive rather, it focuses on the systems where a transition-metal complex and... 

Electrochemical cofactor reduction can be achieved by direct reduction of the cofactor at the electrode surface, or indirectly by using a mediator molecule to shuttle electrons between the electrode and the cofactor. For details on the direct approach the reader is referred elsewhere [31, 32], since here no transition-metal complexes are involved. One point to be considered in the direct approach is the issue of selectivity. Whereas direct cofactor oxidation can be successfully achieved, special care must be taken to produce enzyme active reduced cofactors by direct electrolysis. 

Several dyes or transition-metal complexes can be used as redox mediators in indirect electrolyses. Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl-rhodium(bipyridine) complexes [Cp Rhnl(bpy)(H20)]2+ 9 [33], which were pioneered and intensively studied by Steckhan et al. [34—36], are very versatile catalysts for the reduction of cofactors. 

Considering that these two transition-metal complexes are the only ones reported for the electrochemical cofactor reduction, the results are quite promising and show the need for further research in this field to identify new catalysts. In addition to the use of soluble redox mediators in electrochemical cofactor regeneration, modified electrodes have also been used. Details on these systems can also be found in the above-mentioned reviews [31, 32]. 

Scheme 43.5 Direct hydrogenation of cofactors with transition-metal complexes in an enzymatic synthesis.

These three systems are the only ones reported in the literature for achieving cofactor reduction utilizing molecular hydrogen and transition-metal complexes. 

Regeneration of the oxidized form of the cofactors, while not within the frame of this chapter, is needed for several biotransformations (e.g., oxidative kinetic resolution of diols). In these procedures, transition-metal complexes have also been applied. For this task, Ru(phend)3 complex and derivatives thereof can be used, either with oxygen or in an electrochemical procedure [49-51]. 

A number of photochemically or photoelectrochemically activated transition-metal complexes have also been used, both for oxidation and reduction of the nicotinamide cofactors. Among these complexes is the aforementioned Cp Rh(bpy)-complex 9 [52, 53]. For details of these systems or other regeneration procedures using special dyes, the reader is referred to other reviews on coenzyme regeneration [17, 21-23]. 

Until now, only a few versatile, selective and effective transition-metal complexes have been applied in nicotinamide cofactor reduction. The TOFs are well within the same order of magnitude for all systems studied, and are within the same range as reported for the hydrogenase enzyme thus, the catalytic efficiency is comparable. The most versatile complex Cp Rh(bpy) (9) stands out due to its acceptance of NAD+ and NADP+, acceptance of various redox equivalents (formate, hydrogen and electrons), and its high selectivity towards enzymatically active 1,4-NAD(P)H. 

Enzymes containing amino acid radicals are generally associated with transition metal ions—typically of iron, manganese, cobalt, or copper. In some instances, the metal is absent it is apparently replaced by redox-active organic cofactors such as S -adenosylmethionine or flavins. Functionally, their role is analogous to that of the metal ion in metalloproteins. 

The next five transition metals iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and zinc are of undisputed importance in the living world, as we know it. The multiple roles that iron can play will be presented in more detail later in Chapter 13, but we can already point out that, with very few exceptions, iron is essential for almost all living organisms, most probably because of its role in forming the amino acid radicals required for the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides in the Fe-dependent ribonucleotide reductases. In those organisms, such as Lactobacilli6, which do not have access to iron, their ribonucleotide reductases use a cobalt-based cofactor, related to vitamin B12. Cobalt is also used in a number of other enzymes, some of which catalyse complex isomerization reactions. Like cobalt, nickel appears to be much more extensively utilized by anaerobic bacteria, in reactions involving chemicals such as CH4, CO and H2, the metabolism of which was important... 

Very recently evidence was provided that Hmd contains a low-molecular-mass, thermolabile cofactor that is tightly bound to the enzyme but could be released upon enzyme denaturation in urea or guanidinium chloride (Buurman et al. 2000). No indications were found that the cofactor contains a redox-active transition metal. Further studies are needed to determine the structure of the cofactor and its putative role in the catalytic mechanism. 

For all these reasons, some chemical or genetical modifications have been applied into the binding sites of antibodies in order to improve their reactivity [22]. Antibodies can be modified by the incorporation of natural or synthetic catalysts into the antibody recognition site, as for instance transition metal complexes, cofactors, and bases or nucleophiles, to carry other catalytic functions, which open the way to... 

K), Fe-S cluster assembly (nIfM) and the biosynthesis of the iron molybdenum cofactor, FeMo-co (nifN, B, E, Q, V, H)(5a). It is the last two functions, involving the placement of unusual transition metal sulfide clusters into the nitrogenase proteins, that cause nitrogenase and its components to be appropriately included in this symposium. 

Aldolases have been classified into mechanistically distinct classes according to their mode of donor activation. Class 1 aldolases achieve stereospecific deprotonation via covalent imine/enamine formation at an active-site lysine residue, while Class II aldolases utilize a divalent transition metal cation for substrate coordination as an essential Lewis acid cofactor (usually Zn ) to facilitate deprotonation... 

Many enzyme-catalysed redox processes include the transfer of the equivalent of two electrons by one two-electron step or two one-electron steps. The latter is considered as a radical process involving the use of cofactors like flavin, quinoid coenzymes or transition metals. 

Although zinc itself is not redox-active, some class I enzymes containing zinc in their active sites are known. The most prominent are probably alcohol dehydrogenase and copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD). AU have in common that the redox-active agent is another transition-metal ion (copper in Cu,Zn-SOD) or a cofactor such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+/NADH). The Zn(II) ion affects the redox reaction only in an indirect manner, but is nevCTtheless essential and cannot be regarded simply as a structural factor. 

In general, transition metal ions are undesired in protein formulations because they can catalyze physical and chemical degradation reactions in proteins. However, specific metal ions are included in formulations when they are cofactors to proteins and in suspension formulations of proteins where they form coordination complexes (e.g., zinc suspension of insulin). Recently, the use of magnesium ions (10-120 mM) has been proposed to inhibit the isomerization of aspartic acid to isoaspartic acid (63). 

Transition metal complexes of unsaturated 1,2-dithiolates (metal dithiolenes) have attracted much attention because of their interesting structural and redox properties.169 Molybdenum dithiolene complexes have featured prominently170 in these studies and have special significance following the suggestion171,172 that the molybdenum-containing cofactor of the oxomolybdoen-zymes (Section 36.6.7) incorporates a molybdenum complex of an unsymmetrically substituted alkene-1,2-dithiolate. 

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