Ethyl a-nitrophenylacetate

The ease of loss of the substituent decreases in the order, o-, m-, p-1 > o-Br >p-Br >o-Cl>m-Br >m-, p-Cl, indicating that steric effects are important. The authors of this Review have observed that the reduction of ethyl o-nitrophenylacetate by electron transfer in a basic solution of dimethyl sulphoxide gives rise to the nitrobenzene radical-anion it seems probable that in this case the enolate anion, CHg.COaEt, is the leaving group. In a related reaction, Rieger et al. (1963) observed that p-cyanofluorobenzene, when reduced electrochemically, gives the radical-anion of 4,4 -dicyanobiphenyl, probably as follows ... 

The specificity of chymotrypsin for hydrolysis of peptide bonds formed by the carbo,xyl groups of tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan has been recognized for some time (Green and Neurath, 1954 Desnuelle, 1960). Action on synthetic substrates of leucine (Goldenberg et al., 1951) and methionine (Kaufman and Neurath, 1949) also has been noted although at much slower rates than observed with the aromatic amino acid derivatives. When protein substrates or synthetic ester substrates are examined, it is evident that a variety of bonds can be hydrolyzed by chymotrypsin. Inagami and Sturtevant (1960) observed that chymotryptic hydrolysis of a-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester, a typical trypsin substrate, occurred at a maximum rate which was 20% of that observed with trypsin. Several ester substrates, such as p-nitrophenylacetate (Hartley and Kilby, 1954), are also hydrolyzed. 

N-Acetylation of basic amino acids. The reagent reacts with an aqueous solution of the copper salt of a basic amino acid to give the N-acetyl derivative.1 The procedure is superior to the usual synthesis in which acetic anhydride is used because the reaction goes to completion. As applied to L-lysine, the method is simple and gives better yields of pure e-N-acetyl-L-lysine. Excess cupric carbonate is added to a boiling aqueous solution of L-lysine (0.1 mole) and the solution is filtered and cooled to 25° and treated with sodium bicarbonate, p-nitrophenylacetate, and a few milliliters of ethyl acetate to keep the acetate in solution. After stirring for 15 hrs the copper salt which separates is filtered, suspended in water, and freed of copper with H2S. The solution is evaporated to dryness and the N-acetyllysine crystallized from water-ethanol. 

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