Enzymes alkyl halides

AN ENZYME-CATALYZED NUCLEOPHILIC SUBSTITUTION OF AN ALKYL HALIDE... 

An Enzyme-Catalyzed Nucleophilic Substitution of an Alkyl Halide... 

A thiazolium amino acid (Taz) has been developed which can be utilized to mimic TDP-dependent enzyme function [52]. In this strategy, illustrated in Fig. 15, the commercially available amino acid 4-thiazolylalanine is incorporated into peptides by solid phase peptide synthesis. Prior to deprotection of the amino acid side chains and cleavage of the peptide from the resin, the thiazole amino acid is alkylated with an alkyl halide to generate the corresponding thiazolium amino acid having various N3-substituents (BzTaz = 3-benzyl-Taz, NBTaz = 3-nitrobenzyl-Taz). 

The production of a quaternary ammonium salt from a tertiary amine and an alkyl halide forms the synthetic route to decamethonium, the first of a range of synthetic muscle relaxants having an action like the natural materials found in the arrow-poison curare. Decamethonium is actually a di-quaternary salt, as are more modem analogues, such as suxamethonium. Suxamethonium superseded decamethonium as a drug because it has a shorter and more desirable duration of action in the body. This arise because it can be metabolized by ester-hydrolysing enzymes (esterases) (see also Box 6.9). 

Currently, Ni(I) macrocyclic complexes have attracted much attention. This is because Ni(II) tetraaza macrocyclic complexes catalyze the electrochemical reduction of C02 and alkyl halides, and it is proposed that the Ni(I) species are involved in such reactions (1,2, 76-79, 82, 124-126). Furthermore, F430, a Ni(II) hydrocorphinoid complex, is a prosthetic group of methyl coenzyme M reductase that catalyzes the reductive cleavage of S-methyl coenzyme M to methane in the final stage of C02 reduction to methane (127-130). An EPR signal detected in whole cells of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum has been attributed to an Ni(I) form of F430 in intact active enzyme (131,132). 

The inversion of configuration during an SN2 reaction has led to certain criteria for the detection of intermediates in enzymatic reactions. For example, suppose that an enzyme catalyzes the nucleophilic reaction 8.22. Then a direct attack of Y on the alkyl halide will lead to inversion. But if the substrate first reacts with a nucleophilic group on the enzyme to give an intermediate that then reacts with Y (equation 8.24),... 

There are numerous variations on the general mechanism outlined in Figure 7.10. Glutathione forms conjugates with a wide variety of xenobiotic species, including alkenes, alkyl epoxides (1,2-epoxyethylbenzene), arylepoxides (1,2-epoxynaphthalene), aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic halides, alkyl halides (methyl iodide), and aromatic nitro compounds. The glutathione transferase enzymes required for the initial conjugation are widespread in the body. 

Several thiols occur naturally for example, skunk secretion contains 3-methyll-butanethiol and cut onions evolve 1-propanethiol, and the thiol group of the natural amino acid cysteine plays a vital role in the biochemistry of proteins and enzymes (see Introduction, p. 2). Primary and secondary thiols may be prepared from alkyl halides (RX) by reaction with excess sodium thiolate (SN2 nucleophilic substitution by HST) or via the Grignard reagent and reaction with sulfur. Tertiary thiols can be obtained in good yields by addition of hydrogen sulfide to a suitable alkene. Thiols can also be prepared by reduction of sulfonyl chlorides (Scheme l).la,2a... 

Lightstone, F.C., et al. (1997). Non-cnzymatic and enzymatic hydrolysis of alkyl halides a haloalkane dehalogenation enzyme evolved to stabilize the gas-phase transition state of an SN2 displacement reaction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 8417-8420... 

A new boxed essay, An Enzyme-Catalyzed Nucleophilic Substitution of an Alkyl Halide, in Chapter 8 makes a direct and simple connection between S>j2 reactions and biochemistry. 

Alkyl halides are even less reactive than acyl halides, as indicated by the compilation of reaction rates of thiolate anions with various types of alkyl halides (282). Nevertheless, potentially useful affinity labels have been synthesized with alkyl halide substituents and have been shown to specifically inactivate several enzymes, albeit slowly the low reactivity of the alkyl halides may minimize nonspecific reaction. Adenosine 5 -(2-bromoethyl)phosphate has been characterized and reported to inactivate NAD -dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (283). The 2 - and 3 -(2-bromoethyl)-AMP labels have also been synthesized, and model reactions of the bromoethyl-AMPs with cysteine, lysine, histidine, and tyrosine have been studied (284). More recently, esters of adenosine 5 -monophosphate have been prepared with ethyl, propyl, or hexyl moieties and bromo or chloro substituents at the w position (285). Yeast alcohol dehydrogenase exhibited enhanced inactivation by the hexyl derivative, but inactivation rates of other dehydrogenases were unremarkable. Two iodopropyl derivatives of cAMP have been described, namely, 1, A -(3-iodopropyleno)adenosine 3, 5 -cyclic monophosphate and 3 -0-(2-iodo-3-hydroxypropyl)adenosine 3, 5 -cyclic monophosphate the latter inactivates cAMP phosphodiesterase from human platelets, with a pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.147 hr" (286). 

Several other purine nucleotide derivatives with alkyl halide substituents have appeared in the literature, including adenosine S -chloromethane phosphonate, adenosine 5 -chloromethylpyrophosphate, and adenosine 5 -()8-bromoethane phosphonate) (287-291). These compounds have been evaluated as affinity labels of such nucleotide-binding enzymes as leucyl- and tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetases (leucine- and tryptophan-tRNA ligases), phosphorylase b, and cAMP-... 

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