2-Mercaptoethylamine molecules

Figure 1.77 Disulfide reducing agents such as 2-mercaptoethylamine can be used to cleave the disulfide bonds in the hinge region of antibody molecules. Either intact IgG molecules or F(ab )2 fragments may be reduced in this manner to yield monofunctional antigen binding fragments.

This is a complex molecule, made up of an adenine nucleotide (ADP-3 -phosphate), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), and cysteamine (2-mercaptoethylamine), but for mechanism purposes can be thought of as a simple thiol, HSCoA. Pre-eminent amongst the biochemical thioesters is the thioester of acetic acid, acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). This compound plays a key role in the biosynthesis and metabolism of fatty acids (see Sections 15.4 and 15.5), as well as being a building block for the biosynthesis of a wide range of natural products, such as phenols and macrolide antibiotics (see Box 10.4). 

Coenzyme A. CoA. C HjjNjO PjS mol wt 767.55. C 32.86%, H 4.73%, N 12.78%, O 33.35%, P 12.11%, S 4.18%, A co-factor in enzymatic acetyl transfer reactions. The molecule is built up from pantetheine [Lactobacillus bulgaricus factor consisting of pantothenic acid and cyste-amine (thioethylamine 0-mercaptoethylamine decarboxyl -ated cysteine)], adenosine, and phosphoric acid. Iscln from... 

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