Galactose oxidase copper

Fig. 7. Inner sphere of the galactose oxidase copper-binding site. Geometric details of the ligand arrangement in the aquo complex are indicated in the figure. (Based on protein coordinates PDB ID IGOG.)...

Galactose oxidase copper(II) complexes, 723 copper(III) complexes, 749 Gattermann-Koch reaction, 568 Glycosidation... 

Copper is one of the twenty-seven elements known to be essential to humans (69—72) (see Mineral nutrients). The daily recommended requirement for humans is 2.5—5.0 mg (73). Copper is probably second only to iron as an oxidation catalyst and oxygen carrier in humans (74). It is present in many proteins, such as hemocyanin [9013-32-3] galactose oxidase [9028-79-9] ceruloplasmin [9031 -37-2] dopamine -hydroxylase, monoamine oxidase [9001-66-5] superoxide dismutase [9054-89-17, and phenolase (75,76). Copper aids in photosynthesis and other oxidative processes in plants. 

A number of complexes of copper with 1,1-dithiolenes are known they are interesting, inasmuch as they form (1) polynuclear species, e.g., [Cu4(i-mnt)3]2 . Recently, a copper(III) complex of 1,1-dicarboeth-oxy-2-ethylenedithiolate (DED ) was prepared (375) by oxidation of aqueous solutions of K2[Cu(DED)2] with a 10-15% excess of Cu(II) or H202, and of (BzPh3P)2[Cu(DED)2] with I2. The possibility of this system as a model for the Cu "/Cu. system in n-galactose oxidase has been pointed out. Lewis and Miller (113) also prepared M[Cu(S2C CHN02)2] (M = Cu, or Zn) and Cu[Cu S2C C(CN)2 2], and found that they are effective insecticides. 

Copper(II) complexes with phenoxo ligands have attracted great interest, in order to develop basic coordination chemistry for their possible use as models for tyrosinase activity (dimeric complexes) and fungal enzyme galactose oxidase (GO) (monomeric complexes). The latter enzyme catalyzes the two-electron oxidation of primary alcohols with dioxygen to yield aldehyde and... 

Rate constants for the replacement of water by azide or thiocyanate from the five coordinate (2tyr 2his, 1H20) copper center in Fusarium galactose oxidase decrease with increasing pH, due to the greater difficulty of displacing OH- (312). 

Another oxidizing enzyme with very interesting synthetic potential is galactose oxidase [14]. This copper protein oxidizes primary hydroxy functions in polyols enantioselectively to the corresponding aldehydes. Thus, sugar alcohols may be transformed into the interesting non-natural L-configurated... 

Interest in this class of coordination compounds was sparked and fueled by the discovery that radical cofactors such as tyrosyl radicals play an important role in a rapidly growing number of metalloproteins. Thus, in 1972 Ehrenberg and Reichard (1) discovered that the R2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, a non-heme metal-loprotein, contains an uncoordinated, very stable tyrosyl radical in its active site. In contrast, Whittaker and Whittaker (2) showed that the active site of the copper containing enzyme galactose oxidase (GO) contains a radical cofactor where a Cu(II) ion is coordinated to a tyrosyl radical. 

Interest is mounting in this state, promoted once again by its possible implication in biological systems. Galactose oxidase, for example, is a copper enzyme which catalyses the oxidation of galactose to the corresponding aldehyde. The tervalent oxidation state may be prepared from Cu(II) by chemical, anodic and radical oxidation. Cu(III) complexes of peptides and macrocycles have been most studied, particularly from a mechanistic viewpoint. The oxidation of I" by Cu(III)-deprotonated peptide complexes and by imine-oxime complexes have a similar rate law... 

There are a number of excellent sources of information on copper proteins notable among them is the three-volume series Copper Proteins and Copper Enzymes (Lontie, 1984). A review of the state of structural knowledge in 1985 (Adman, 1985) included only the small blue copper proteins. A brief review of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) work on some of these proteins appeared in 1987 (Hasnain and Garner, 1987). A number of new structures have been solved by X-ray diffraction, and the structures of azurin and plastocyanin have been extended to higher resolution. The new structures include two additional type I proteins (pseudoazurin and cucumber basic blue protein), the type III copper protein hemocyanin, and the multi-copper blue oxidase ascorbate oxidase. Results are now available on a copper-containing nitrite reductase and galactose oxidase. 

These systems are also described as normal copper proteins due to their conventional ESR features. In the oxidized state, their color is light blue (almost undetectable) due to weak d-d transitions of the single Cu ion. The coordination sphere around Cu, which has either square planar or distorted tetrahedral geometry, contains four ligands with N and/or 0 donor atoms [ 12, 22]. Representative examples of proteins with this active site structure (see Fig. 1) and their respective catalytic function include galactose oxidase (1) (oxidation of primary alcohols) [23,24], phenylalanine hydroxylase (hydroxy-lation of aromatic substrates) [25,26], dopamine- 6-hydroxylase (C-Hbond activation of benzylic substrates) [27] and CuZn superoxide dismutase (disproportionation of 02 superoxide anion) [28,29]. 

So-called blue multinuclear copper oxidase enzymes, such as laccase and ascorbate oxidase, catalyze the stepwise oxidation of organic substrates (most likely in successive one-electron steps) in tandem with the four-electron reduction of O2 to water, i.e. no oxygen atom(s) from O2 are incorporated into the substrate (Eq. 4) [15]. Catechol oxidase, containing a type 3 center, mediates a two-electron substrate oxidation (o-diphenols to o-chinones), and turnover of two substrate molecules is coupled to the reduction of O2 to water [34,35]. The non-blue copper oxidases, e.g. galactose oxidase and amine oxidases [27,56-59], perform similar oxidation catalysis at a mononuclear type 2 Cu site, but H2O2 is produced from O2 instead of H2O, in a two-electron reduction. 

The selective oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones is of prime importance for organic synthesis, and various types of reagents have been described that achieve this transformation selectively and efficiently [141,142]. However, the number of sub-stoichiometric, nontoxic, non-hazardous oxidation systems has been relatively Umited. As copper enzymes such as galactose oxidase are known to catalyze this oxidation reaction, bioinspired homogeneous catalysts based on copper species have also been developed in recent years. 

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... 

The CuA center has an unusual structure.130-132 It was thought to be a single atom of copper until the three-dimensional structure revealed a dimetal center, whose structure follows. The CuB-cytochrome a3 center is also unusual. A histidine ring is covalently attached to tyrosine.133-1353 Like the tyrosine in the active site of galactose oxidase (Figs. 16-29,16-30), which carries a covalently joined cysteine, that of cytochrome oxidase may be a site of tyrosyl radical formation.135... 

The paramagnetic copper present in the non-blue oxidases such as galactose oxidase and amine oxidases, and also in the blue oxidases, has d-d and ESR spectra typical of coordination complexes of copper(II). 

Nonblue. These include galactose oxidase (GO) and amine oxidases (e.g., plasma amine oxidase, diamine oxidase, lysyl oxidase), which produce dihydrogen peroxide by the two-electron reduction of 02 [33], For GO (stereospecific primary alcohol oxidation), spectroscopic studies by Whittaker [70,71] suggest that the two-electron oxidation carried out by a mononuclear copper center is aided by a stabilized ligand-protein radical (i.e., (L)Cu(I) + 02 —> (L +)Cu(lI) + H202), obviating the need to get to Cu(III) in the catalytic cycle. Protein x-ray structures [33,72] reveal a novel copper protein cofactor, which would seem... 

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