Pesticides hydrolysis

There are occasions in which death is undoubtedly due to a pesticide, and yet the chemical analysis fails to reveal its presence or shows only insignificant traces. This may be due to the rapid metabolic conversion of the particular pesticide. This is the case with parathion which is rapidly converted to para-nitrophenol due to in vivo hydrolysis. Pesticides, especially those that are comparatively less toxic to mammals, such as dichlorovos, etc, may be excreted rapidly and, therefore, may perhaps be found in the urine, though not in the tissues. 

As a class of compounds, nitriles have broad commercial utility that includes their use as solvents, feedstocks, pharmaceuticals, catalysts, and pesticides. The versatile reactivity of organonitnles arises both from the reactivity of the C=N bond, and from the abiHty of the cyano substituent to activate adjacent bonds, especially C—H bonds. Nitriles can be used to prepare amines, amides, amidines, carboxyHc acids and esters, aldehydes, ketones, large-ring cycHc ketones, imines, heterocycles, orthoesters, and other compounds. Some of the more common transformations involve hydrolysis or alcoholysis to produce amides, acids and esters, and hydrogenation to produce amines, which are intermediates for the production of polyurethanes and polyamides. An extensive review on hydrogenation of nitriles has been recendy pubHshed (10). 

Carboyylic acid ester hydrolysis is frequendy observed as the initial reaction for pesticides with ester bonds, such as 2,4-D esters, pyrethroids, and DCPA (dacthal) (8) (eq. 11) (16). 

Carbamate hydrolysis is frequendy observed as the initial reaction for pesticides having carbamate bonds, such as aldicarb, carbofuran, carbaryl, and benomyl (eq. 12) (19). Numerous genera of carbamate-hydroly2ing bacteria have been identified, including Pseudomonas, Jhihrobacter, Bacillus, Nocardia, Achromobacter, Flavobacterium, Streptomyces, Alcaligenes, A spirillum, Micrococcus, and Bhodococcus. 

Urea hydrolysis is frequently observed as the initial reaction for pesticides having urea bonds, such as linuron, diuron, and chlorsulfuron (10) (eq. 14)... 

Carboxyhc acid ester, carbamate, organophosphate, and urea hydrolysis are important acid/base-catalyzed reactions. Typically, pesticides that are susceptible to chemical hydrolysis are also susceptible to biological hydrolysis the products of chemical vs biological hydrolysis are generally identical (see eqs. 8, 11, 13, and 14). Consequentiy, the two types of reactions can only be distinguished based on sterile controls or kinetic studies. As a general rule, carboxyhc acid esters, carbamates, and organophosphates are more susceptible to alkaline hydrolysis (24), whereas sulfonylureas are more susceptible to acid hydrolysis (25). 

Cowart RP, Bonner FL, Epps EA Jr. 1971. Rate of hydrolysis of seven organophosphate pesticides. 

Faust SD, Gomaa HM. 1972. Chemical hydrolysis of some organic phosphorus and carbamate pesticides in aquatic environments. Environ Lett 3 171 -201. 

Other interesting examples of proteases that exhibit promiscuous behavior are proline dipeptidase from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5, whose original activity is to cleave a dipeptide bond with a prolyl residue at the carboxy terminus [121, 122] and aminopeptidase P (AMPP) from E. coli, which is a prohne-specific peptidase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of N-terminal peptide bonds containing a proline residue [123, 124]. Both enzymes exhibit phosphotriesterase activity. This means that they are capable of catalyzing the reaction that does not exist in nature. It is of particular importance, since they can hydrolyze unnatural substrates - triesters of phosphoric acid and diesters of phosphonic acids - such as organophosphorus pesticides or organophosphoms warfare agents (Scheme 5.25) [125]. 

A variety of phosphoric acid triesters and their derivatives are used as pesticides. Although there are no natural phosphorotriesters, those artificial ones undergo decomposition in the soil, implying that some microorganisms exist which are capable of hydrolysing them. The first report on a stereoselective enzymatic phos-photriester hydrolysis was pubhshed in 1973, when Dudman and Zerner succeeded... 

Singh NC, TP Dasgupta, EV Roberts, A Mansingh (1991) Dynamics of pesticides in tropical conditions. 1. Kinetic studies of volatilization, hydrolysis, and photolysis of dieldrin and a- and b-endosulfan. J Agric Food Chem 39 575-579. 

Attempts have been made to apply the structure-activity concept (Hansch and Leo 1995) to environmental problems, and this has been successfully applied to the rates of hydrolysis of carbamate pesticides (Wolfe et al. 1978), and of esters of chlorinated carboxylic acids (Paris et al. 1984). This has been extended to correlating rates of biotransformation with the structure of the substrates and has been illustrated with a number of single-stage reactions. Clearly, this approach can be refined with the increased understanding of the structure and function of the relevant degradative enzymes. Some examples illustrate the application of this procedure ... 

Brief notes are added on phosphorofluoridates even though their destruction by microbial activity— though clearly possible—is limited by their toxicity to the requisite microorganisms. One of the motivations for their inclusion is the fact that the hydrolytic enzyme(s) responsible for defluorination—organophosphorus acid anhydrase (OPA)—is widespread, and is found in a number of bacteria (Landis and DeFrank 1990). The microbial hydrolysis of organophosphorus pesticides and cholinesterase inhibitors is accomplished by several distinct enzymes, which are collectively termed organophosphorus acid anhydrases (OPAs). These have been reviewed (DeFrank 1991), so that only a few additional comments are necessary. 

Munnecke DM (1976) Enzymatic hydrolysis of organophosphate insecticides, a possible pesticide disposal method. Appl Environ Microbiol 32 7-13. 

The increased use of IV-methyl carbamate insecticides in agriculture demands the development of selective and sensitive analytical procedures to determine trace level residues of these compounds in crops and other food products. HPLC is the technique most widely used to circumvent heat sensitivity of these pesticides. However, HPLC with UV detection lacks the selectivity and sensitivity needed for their analysis. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, HPLC using post-column hydrolysis and derivatization was developed and refined with fluorescence detection to overcome these problems. The technique relies on the post-column hydrolysis of the carbamate moiety to methylamine with subsequent derivatization to a fluorescent isoindole product. This technique is currently the most widely used HPLC method for the determination of carbamates in water" and in fruits and vegetables." " ... 

Most of the common 15 hazardous pesticides are chlorinated hydrocarbons. Adsorption can be an important process for most. All except DDT, endosulfan, and heptachlor resist hydrolysis, and most are also resistant to biodegradation. Kearney and Kaufman118 review conditions under which chlorinated pesticides are biodegraded. 

Penetrating through the respiratory and intestinal tracts, and the integument, pesticides undergo a dual transformation [6] both chemical transformations (oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis), and the formation of complex compounds with biochemical components in the body. 

Metabolism of most OP pesticides yields alkylphosphates or alkyl-(di)-thiophosphates as a result of the hydrolysis of the P-X bond in the OP... 

The monomeric phosphate ion 102 was first postulated in 1955 as an intermediate of the hydrolysis of monoesters of phosphoric acid in an aqueous medium 57,58). Another 24 years were to elapse before compound 102 was observed directly, and then not in solution but in the mass spectra of some pesticides. The negative ion Cl spectra of enol phosphates 94 and of the thiophosphorie ester 95 display an intense peak at m/e == 78.9590, which is unequivocally assigned to the POf ion 59). 

Later some features of the SERATRA Model, developed by Batelle Northwest Laboratories (5 ) were added. This model was designed to simulate the behavior of sediment and associated constituents in streams. It includes processes such as hydrolysis and photolysis and is thus suitable for modeling toxic substances such as pesticides. 

Enzymes can be used not only for the determination of substrates but also for the analysis of enzyme inhibitors. In this type of sensors the response of the detectable species will decrease in the presence of the analyte. The inhibitor may affect the vmax or KM values. Competitive inhibitors, which bind to the same active site than the substrate, will increase the KM value, reflected by a change on the slope of the Lineweaver-Burke plot but will not change vmax. Non-competitive inhibitors, i.e. those that bind to another site of the protein, do not affect KM but produce a decrease in vmax. For instance, the acetylcholinesterase enzyme is inhibited by carbamate and organophosphate pesticides and has been widely used for the development of optical fiber sensors for these compounds based on different chemical transduction schemes (hydrolysis of a colored substrate, pH changes). 

Absorbance- and reflectance-based measurements are widespread, as there are many enzymatic reaction products or intermediates that are colored or if not, can react with the appropriate indicator. Sensors using acetylcholinesterase for carbamate pesticides detection are an example of indirect optical fiber biosensors. This enzyme catalyses the hydrolysis of acetylcholine with concomitant decrease in pH41 ... 

Mainly, two principles are used in electrochemical pesticide biosensor design, either enzyme inhibition or hydrolysis of pesticide. Among these two approaches inhibition-based biosensors have been widely employed in analysis due to the simplicity and wide availability of the enzymes. The direct enzymatic hydrolysis of pesticide is also extremely attractive for biosensing, because the catalytic reaction is superior and faster than the inhibition [27],... 

Organophosphate and carbamate pesticides are potent inhibitors of the enzyme cholinesterase. The inhibition of cholinesterase activity by the pesticide leads to the formation of stable covalent intermediates such as phosphoryl-enzyme complexes, which makes the hydrolysis of the substrate very slow. Both organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides can react with AChE in the same manner because the acetylation of the serine residue at the catalytic center is analogous to phosphorylation and carbamylation. Carbamated enzyme can restore its catalytic activity more rapidly than phosphorylated enzyme [17,42], Kok and Hasirci [43] reported that the total anti-cholinesterase activity of binary pesticide mixtures was lower than the sum of the individual inhibition values. 

Although the inhibition-based biosensors are sensitive, they are poor in selectivity and are rather slow and tedious since the analysis involves multiple steps of reaction such as measuring initial enzyme activity, incubation with inhibitor, measurement of residual activity, and regeneration and washing. Biosensors based on direct pesticide hydrolysis are more straightforward. The OPH hydrolyzes ester in a number of organophospho-rus pesticides (OPPs) and insecticides (e.g. paraoxon, parathion, coumaphos, diazinon) and chemical warfare agents (e.g. sarin) [53], For example, OP parathion hydrolyzes by the OPH to form p-nitrophenol, which can be measured by anodic oxidation. Rainina... 

Another useful compound is the 1 2 telomer of malonate and butadiene, 137. The first example is the synthesis of pellitorine (138), a naturally occurring pesticide (126). The terminal double bond was hydrogenated selectively with RuCl2(PPh3)3 as a catalyst. Partial hydrolysis afforded the monoester, which was treated with PhSeSePh to displace one of the carboxyl group with phenylselenyl group. Oxidative removal of the phenylselenyl group afforded 2,4-decadienoate (139), which is converted to pellitorine (138) ... 

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