Methylcobalamine

B 2 (lb)) and methylcobalamin [13422-55-4] (Ic). These, along with hydroxocobalamin [13422-51 -0] (vitamin B 2 (1 ))> die forms found in humans and other animals. Other forms of interest are iiitrocobalarnin (vitamin ( )) aquacobalamine chloride [13422-52-1] (vitamin The... 

Methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin are the two coen2yme forms of vitamin B 2 in animals and humans. Each is involved in the catalysis of a specific... 

Methylcobalamin is involved in a critically important physiological transformation, namely the methylation of homocysteine (8) to methionine (9) (eq. 2) catalyzed by A/ -methyltetrahydrofolate homocysteine methyltransferase. The reaction sequence involves transfer of a methyl group first from... 

Metabolism and Mobilization. On entry of vitamin B 2 into the cell, considerable metaboHsm of the vitamin takes place. Co(III)cobalamin is reduced to Co(I)cobalamin, which is either methylated to form methylcobalamin or converted to adenosylcobalamin (coenzyme B>22)- The methylation requires methyl tetrahydrofolate. 

The total syntheses have yielded cobyric acid and thence cyanocobalamin. Routes to other cobalamins, eg, methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin, are known (76—79). One approach to such compounds involves the oxidative addition of the appropriate alkyl haUde (eg, CH I to give methylcobalamin) or tosylate (eg, 5 -A-tosyladenosine to yield adenosylcobalamine) to cobalt(I)alamine. 

Biotin Methylcobalamin Biotin-lysine complexes (biocytin)... 

The first two of these are mediated by 5 -deoxyadenosylcobalamin, whereas methyl transfers are effected by methylcobalamin. The mechanism of ribonucleotide reductase is discussed in Chapter 27. Methyl group transfers that employ tetrahydrofolate as a coenzyme are described later in this chapter. 

Vitamin B12 appears in two coenzymatic forms, namely methylcobalamin (cytosol) and 5 -deoxyadenosylcoba-lamin (mitochondria). Vitamin B 12-dependent enzymes are [1]... 

FIGURE 8.2 Methylation of inorganic mercury by methylcobalamine (from Crosby 1998). 

Methyl iodide will react with vitamin B,2a in the presence of thiols or sulfide to produce methylcobalamin (56). 

The primary step in the photolysis of methylcobalamin is homolytic fission to give the Co(II) cobalamin and methyl radicals. Recombination can occur, i.e., the reaction is reversed, unless the radicals and/or Co(II) are removed by further reactions ... 

The photochemically active bands of methylcobalamin have been identified as the intense hands due to -n—n transitions within the conjugated corrin ring, and the following quantum yields (< ) were obtained A = 490 nm, Similar quantum yields ( = 0.3-0.5) were also obtained for the photolysis of methylcobalamin in acid, where the base has been displaced and protonated, and the complex is present as a mixture of the methylaquo and five coordinate methyl complexes (/40). The effect of varying the second axial ligand on the rate of photolysis by white light has also been studied (134). 

Enzymatic methylation of homocysteine (HSCHjCHjCHNHjCOOH) by methylcobalamin to give methionine (CH3SCH2CH2CHNH2COOH) was discovered in 1962 by Woods and co-workers, who also noticed the occurrence of a much slower, nonenzymatic reaction giving the same products. Methylcobinamide showed the same activity as the cobalamin in both the enzymatic and nonenzymatic reactions (72, 7/). It was subsequently discovered that HS, MeS , PhS , and w-BuS will dealkylate a variety of methyl complexes [DMG, DMG-BF2, DPG, G, salen, (DO)(DOH)pn, cobalamin] and even ethyl-Co(DMG)2 complexes to give the thioethers, and it was suggested that the reaction involved transfer of the carbonium ion to the attacking thiolate 161, 164), e.g.,... 

However, more recent work has shown that the reaction of thioglycollic acid (HSCH2COOH) with methylcobalamin to give the methyl thioether requires oxygen and shows an induction period [which can be reduced by increasing the pH, the thiol concentration, or the partial pressure of O2, and eliminated by the addition of the Co(II) complex], followed by a steady-state reaction [ whose rate increases with pH, the concentration of the CH3C0 and Co(II) complexes and the partial pressure of O2, but is independent of thiol concentration]. Neither the induction period nor the steady-state... 

Catalytic hydrogenation with platinum liberates the hydrocarbon from methylcobalamin (57) and from alkyl-Co-DMG complexes (161), but not from pentacyanides with primary alkyl, vinyl, or benzyl ligands, though the cr-allyl complex yields propylene (109). Sodium sand gives mixtures of hydrocarbons with the alkyl-Co-salen complexes (64). Dithioerythritol will liberate methane from a variety of methyl complexes [cobalamin, DMG, DMG-BF2, G, DPG, CHD, salen, and (DO)(DOH)pn] (156), as will 1,4-butanedithiol from the DMG complex (157), and certain unspecified thiols will reduce DMG complexes with substituted alkyl ligands (e.g., C0-CH2COOH ->CH3C00H) (163, 164). Reaction with thiols can also lead to the formation of thioethers (see Section C,3). 

Lenhert and Hodgkin (15) revealed with X-ray diffraction techniques that 5 -deoxyadenosylcobalamin (Bi2-coenzyme) contained a cobalt-carbon o-bond (Fig. 3). The discovery of this stable Co—C-tr-bond interested coordination chemists, and the search for methods of synthesizing coen-zyme-Bi2 together with analogous alkyl-cobalt corrinoids from Vitamin B12 was started. In short order the partial chemical synthesis of 5 -de-oxyadenosylcobalamin was worked out in Smith s laboratory (22), and the chemical synthesis of methylcobalamin provided a second B 12-coenzyme which was found to be active in methyl-transfer enzymes (23). A general reaction for the synthesis of alkylcorrinoids is shown in Fig. 4. 

It soon became apparent that the biologically active forms of Vitamin Bj.2 contained the unique Co—C-a-bond, and the instability of these covalent compounds to visible light facilitated observations on the occurrence of functional corrinoids in a number of enzymes. Deoxyadenosyl-cobalamin was found to be the most abundant corrinoid in bacteria (24) and in mammalian liver (25). Methylcobalamin was found in Escherichia coli (26), calf liver and human blood plasma (27), and also in a number of Clostridia (28). 

Methylcobalamin acts as the functional molecule for methyl-transfer in a second group of enzyme reactions. Theoretically methyl-transfer... 

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