Galactose oxidase characterization

There are numerous reports on the chemical synthesis of models for the active site of galactose oxidase both in the reduced Cu(l) and the oxidized Cu(II) form. We mention only a selection in which EPR is at least used to characterize the complex either on the phenoxy radical or on the copper part, typically in conjunction with X-ray data.48,49 50 A review on structural, spectroscopic and redox aspects of galactose oxidase models is available.51 More important with respect to EPR is the report on the 3-tensor calculation of the thioether substituted tyrosyl radical by ab initio methods but this is borderline to the aspects treated in this review since the copper ion is not involved.52... 

Galactose oxidase (EC 1.1.3.9), which catalyzes the oxidation of D-galac-tose (and derivatives) to D-gu/ucm-hexodialdose (and derivatives), is useful for analytical determinations,388 but is not an efficient method for large-scale preparation of methyl D-ga/ucm-hexodialdo-l,5-pyranosides. The fi anomer of the latter was characterized as a dimeric hexaacetate.389... 

However, the Schiff base complex lacks the stability towards reduction by CN" that characterizes the Cu( II) in galactose oxidase. While the enzyme binds a single CN" even at large CN" excess (22), the Cu(II) in the model is reduced by the ligand. To assess the underlying structural components which stabilize the enzymic Cu(II) towards reduction by CN", a five-coordinate model (Figure 2) having square bipyramidal symmetry was prepared (23). (The conditions and system procedures... 

Transition metal ions with organic radicals exist in the active sites of metalloproteins. The best understood example is galactose oxidase, which features a single Cu(II) ion coordinated to a modified tyrosyl radical. Many combined experimental and theoretical studies have focused on electronic properties of metal complexes with redox active ligands, yet reactivity beyond characterization has been limited. We will demonstrate the influence of the metal complex redox state on H2 activation by anilino-phenolate noninnocent ligands. 

Since both alcoholic oxidation and O2 reduction are two-electron processes, the catalytic reaction is conceptually equivalent to a transfer of the elements of dihydrogen between the two substrates. Biological hydrogen transfer generally involves specialized organic redox factors (e.g., flavins, nicotinamide, quinones), with well-characterized reaction mechanisms. Galactose oxidase does not contain any of these conventional redox factors and instead utilizes a very different type of active site, a free radical-coupled copper complex, to perform this chemistry. The new type of active site structure implies that the reaction follows a novel biochemical redox mechanisms based on free radicals and the two-electron reactivity of the metalloradical complex. 

Figure 1 Drawings of the stable well-characterized metal-radical arrays in (a) galactose oxidase, (b) R2 subunit of the class I ribonucleotide reductase, and (c) cytochrome c peroxidase.

Even before the structure of galactose oxidase was characterized completely, the first copper model complexes emerged, capable of aerobic oxidation of alcohols to... 

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