Hemoproteins reaction mechanism

The Applicability of These Free Radical Mechanisms in the Hemoprotein Reactions. 415... 

Many experimental studies now support a free radical mechanism for these reactions of ionic iron, and it is the main theme of the report to examine the data on the hemoprotein reactions to see whether similar reaction mechanisms are first of all possible and if so whether there is evidence that the reactions do proceed in this way. 

In the absence of direct proof of a valency change or free radical intermediates participating, it is valuable to survey the data on the reactions of ionic iron in similar systems and then examine the possibility of similar mechanisms occurring in hemoprotein reactions. 

The evidence for the free radical mechanisms of the reaction between ferrous and ferric ions and hydrogen peroxide is fully discussed in the article by J. H. Baxendale in this volume, and it is necessary here only to summarize and comment on those features especially relevant to hemoprotein reactions. This evidence is essentially indirect. Experiment shows very reactive intermediates to be present and extensive kinetic studies reveal competition reactions for these intermediates in that the overall order of the reaction is found to depend on the reactant concentrations. A free radical mechanism is adopted because it accounts for the chemical reactivity of the system in the oxidation of substrates (Fenton s reaction) and the initiation of the polymerization of vinyl compounds (Baxendale, Evans, and Park, 84) and it provides a set of reactions which largely account for the observed kinetics. The set of reactions which fit best the most recent experimental data is that proposed by Barb, Baxendale, George, and Hargrave (83) ... 

Model heme systems The mechanisms of heme and hemoprotein reactions with small molecules such as O2, CO and NO has attracted considerable experimental attention owing to the importance of such processes in biological systems. Flash photolysis studies [87] have indicated that the photolabilization of L from simple heme complexes and kinetics of the resulting back reaction (Eq. 6.40) can be modeled by the intermediacy of solvent caged contact pair . Equation (6.41) illustrates this mechanism for the thermal back reaction for the photochemically generated intermediates for a ferrous porphyrin (Por)Fe L (For = porphyrin)... 

On the other hand, accurate data on a theoretically sound basis are a prerequisite for the study (rf the reaction mechanism, the chemistry, and the physiological role of catalases and peroxidases. This kind of research employs, as a rule, purified enzyme preparations in transparent solutions, although Chance (99) has worked out rapid and sensitive spectrophoto-metric methods for the detailed kinetic study of hemoproteins in turbid cell su nsions. 

A less common reactive species is the Fe peroxo anion expected from two-electron reduction of O2 at a hemoprotein iron atom (Fig. 14, structure A). Protonation of this intermediate would yield the Fe —OOH precursor (Fig. 14, structure B) of the ferryl species. However, it is now clear that the Fe peroxo anion can directly react as a nucleophile with highly electrophilic substrates such as aldehydes. Addition of the peroxo anion to the aldehyde, followed by homolytic scission of the dioxygen bond, is now accepted as the mechanism for the carbon-carbon bond cleavage reactions catalyzed by several cytochrome P450 enzymes, including aromatase, lanosterol 14-demethylase, and sterol 17-lyase (133). A similar nucleophilic addition of the Fe peroxo anion to a carbon-nitrogen double bond has been invoked in the mechanism of the nitric oxide synthases (133). 

The above mechanistic interpretation is in contrast with the one appearing in the coordination chemistry of NO on the very labile Fe(III) porphyrins and hemoproteins, which show water substitution-controlled kinetics at the iron(III) center (22,25). The latter Fe(III) moieties are, however, high-spin systems, whilst the cyano-complexes are low-spin. There is strong experimental evidence to support the dissociative mechanism with the Fe(III)-porphyrins, because the rates are of the same order as the water-exchange reactions measured in these systems (22d). Besides, the Fe(III) centers are less oxidizing than [Fein(CN)5H20]2- (21,25). 

A quarter of a century has passed since the first contribution on catalase to The Enzymes Enzyme substrate compounds Mechanism of action of hydroperoxidases (I). In this perspective, we can identify a sequence of steps in the development of ideas on the mechanism of enzymic action and the nature of enzyme-substrate compounds. The identification of these compounds and the approach to enzymic reactions at concentrations stoichiometric with the substrate caused a principal transition of viewpoint on hemoprotein catalysis from free radical mechanisms (2) unrelated to an active center toward the acceptance of catalysis occurring at the iron atom of the porphyrin (S-5). The latter concept followed natu-... 

Perhaps the best-characterized example of this mechanism involves the synthesis of heme cofactors and their subsequent incorporation into various hemoproteins (see Iron Heme Proteins Electron Transport). Succinctly, enzyme-catalyzed reactions convert either succinyl-CoA or glutamate into 5-ammolevulinic acid. This molecule is further converted through a series of intermediates to form protoporphyrin IX, the metal-ffee cofactor, into which Fe is inserted by ferrochelatase. Analogous reactions are required for the synthesis of other tetrapyrrole macrocycles such as the cobalamins (see Cobalt Bu Enzymes Coenzymes), various types of chlorophylls, and the methanogen coenzyme F430 (containing Co, Mg, or Ni, respectively). Co- and Mg-chelatases have been described for insertion of these metals into the appropriate tetrapyrrolic ring structures. ... 

Polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesis is catalyzed by acyl-lipid-desaturases, also named front-end desaturases due to their action mechanism, which proceeds via introduction of double bonds into preformed acyl chains by oxygen and electron-donor dependent desaturation, between the carboxyl group and the pre-existing unsaturation which acts as substrate. For many microsomal desaturases, the electron donors are cytochrome b5, and a small hemoprotein that operates in numerous redox reactions in plants, involving NADH-dependent acyl-group desaturation [200]. 

It has been shown above that the catalytic action of catalase and peroxidase is intimately connected with the ability of these hemoproteins to form complexes with hydrogen peroxide (or alkyl peroxides). By choosing the experimental conditions the existence of three different complexes can be demonstrated spectroscopically. The chemical nature of these complexes is as yet unknown, and mechanisms have been represented as bimolecular reactions between substrate and complex. 

In analogy with their heme-containing counterparts, the nonheme metallopro-teins appear to catalyze oxidation reactions by radical processes. In contrast to hemoproteins, however, the structural and mechanistic details of the nonheme metalloproteins, including the nature of their metal centers, are largely unknown. The study of mechanism-based inactivators has proved to be an important source of otherwise elusive mechanistic information on this class of enzymes. 

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