Molecular oxygen intermediates

Fig. 42. Hypothetical scheme depicting the pathways and intermediates in the luciferase-catalyzed oxidation of FMNHj by molecular oxygen. Intermediates II and Ila are in reversible equilibrium the apparent first-order rate constants for the decay of II (ka) and Ila (fcb) are similar but not identical, and they may differ considerably, depending on many factors and conditions. E, enzyme. From Hastings et al. (1973).

Phenolic compounds are commonplace natural products Figure 24 2 presents a sampling of some naturally occurring phenols Phenolic natural products can arise by a number of different biosynthetic pathways In animals aromatic rings are hydroxylated by way of arene oxide intermediates formed by the enzyme catalyzed reaction between an aromatic ring and molecular oxygen... 

Xanthine oxidase, mol wt ca 275,000, present in milk, Hver, and intestinal mucosa (131), is required in the cataboHsm of nucleotides. The free bases guanine and hypoxanthine from the nucleotides are converted to uric acid and xanthine in the intermediate. Xanthine oxidase cataly2es oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and xanthine to uric acid. In these processes and in the oxidations cataly2ed by aldehyde oxidase, molecular oxygen is reduced to H2O2 (133). Xanthine oxidase is also involved in iron metaboHsm. Release of iron from ferritin requires reduction of Fe " to Fe " and reduced xanthine oxidase participates in this conversion (133). 

No clear picture of the primary radical intermediate(s) in the HO2 photooxidation of water has appeared. The nature of the observed radical species depends on the origin and pretreatment of the HO2 sample, on the conditions and extent of its reduction, on the extent of surface hydroxylation, and on the presence of adventitious electron acceptors such as molecular oxygen (41). The hole is trapped on the terminal OH group (54). 

The presence of oxygen can modify the course of a fiee-radical chain reaction if a radical intermediate is diverted by reaction with molecular oxygen. The oxygen molecule, with its two unpaired electrons, is extremely reactive toward most free-radical intermediates. The product which is formed is a reactive peroxyl radical, which can propagate a chain reaction leading to oxygen-containing products. 

The deprotonated flavin in the complex is readily attacked by molecular oxygen at C4a, giving 4a-hydroperoxide of the flavin-luciferase complex (intermediate A). This complex is an unusually stable intermediate, with a lifetime of tens of seconds at 20°C and hours at subzero temperatures, allowing its isolation and characterization (Hastings et al., 1973 Tu, 1979 Balny and Hastings, 1975 Vervoort et al., 1986 Kurfuerst et al., 1987 Lee et al., 1988). 

One is the concerted decomposition of a dioxetanone structure that is proposed for the chemiluminescence and bioluminescence of both firefly luciferin (Hopkins et al., 1967 McCapra et al., 1968 Shimomura et al., 1977) and Cypridina luciferin (McCapra and Chang, 1967 Shimomura and Johnson, 1971). The other is the linear decomposition mechanism that has been proposed for the bioluminescence reaction of fireflies by DeLuca and Dempsey (1970), but not substantiated. In the case of the Oplopborus bioluminescence, investigation of the reaction pathway by 180-labeling experiments has shown that one O atom of the product CO2 derives from molecular oxygen, indicating that the dioxetanone pathway takes place in this bioluminescence system as well (Shimomura et al., 1978). It appears that the involvement of a dioxetane intermediate is quite widespread in bioluminescence. 

After 28 years the perepoxide quasi-intermediate was supported by a two-step no intermediate mechanism [71, 72]. The minimum energy path on the potential energy surface of the reaction between singlet molecular oxygen ( A and dg-teramethylethylene reaches a vaUey-ridge inflection point and then bifurcates leading to the two final products [73]. 

Following the discovery of the ene reaction of singlet molecular oxygen ( Ap (Scheme 15) in 1953 by Schenck [88], this fascinating reaction continues to receive considerable mechanistic attention today. The importance of a path via the perepoxide intermediate or a perepoxide-Iike transition state [13] or the perepoxide quasi-intermediate [70] was proposed for the ene reactions of singlet oxygen with alkenes affording allylic hydroperoxides. 

In the following we shall assume that adsorbed molecular oxygen is the MARI (most abundant reaction intermediate species), i.e. 0 = 1 — 9o ... 

Abel has assumed that the reaction between arsenite and molecular oxygen is catalyzed by a chromium intermediate. He suggested that chromium(IV) is converted by oxygen into chromium(VI) which causes the excess oxidation of arsenic(III). However, this mechanism is also devoid of experimental support. 

The oxidation of carotenes results in the formation of a diverse array of xanthophylls (Fig. 13.7). Zeaxanthin is synthesised from P-carotene by the hydroxylation of C-3 and C-3 of the P-rings via the mono-hydroxylated intermediate P-cryptoxanthin, a process requiring molecular oxygen in a mixed-function oxidase reaction. The gene encoding P-carotene hydroxylase (crtZ) has been cloned from a number of non-photosynthetic prokaryotes (reviewed by Armstrong, 1994) and from Arabidopsis (Sun et al, 1996). Zeaxanthin is converted to violaxanthin by zeaxanthin epoxidase which epoxidises both P-rings of zeaxanthin at the 5,6 positions (Fig. 13.7). The... 

A similar system, but with a more hindered porphyrin (tetramesitylporphyrin = tetraphenylporphyrin bearing three methyl substituents in ortho and para positions on each phenyl group), was tested for P-carotene oxidation by molecular oxygen. This system was chosen to slow the oxidation process and thus make it possible to identify possible intermediates by HPLC-DAD-MS analysis. The system yielded the same product families as with lycopene, i.e., (Z)-isomers, epoxides, and P-apo-carotenals, together with new products tentatively attributed to diapocarotene-dials and 5,6- and/or 5,8-epoxides of P-apo-carotenals. The oxidation mechanism appeared more complex in this set-up. 

Beyer, R, Mayer, M., and Kleinig, K., Molecular oxygen and the state of geometric isomerism of intermediates are essential in the carotene desaturation and cyclization reactions in daffodil chromoplasts, Eur. J. Biochem. 184, 141, 1989. 

Complex B) can be reduced in acid aqueous medium by Fe " to complex A), the process results in the evolution of molecular oxygen 74), this being ascribed to the decomposition of A). In analogous reductions using Cr ", and Eu ", a common intermediate was detected (75), which has been assigned the stmcture... 

There are examples in which base radicals undergo reaction with adjacent base residues. The 5-(2 -deoxyuridinyl)methyl radical (63, Scheme 8.30) can forge an intrastrand cross-link with adjacent purine residues. Cross-link formation is favored with a guanine residue on the 5 -side of the pyrimidine radical and occurs under low-oxygen conditions. A mechanism was not proposed for this process, but presumably the reaction involves addition of the nucleobase alkyl radical to the C8-position of the adjacent purine residue. Molecular oxygen likely inhibits crosslink formation by trapping the radical 63, as shown in Scheme 8.24. The radical intermediate 89 must undergo oxidation to yield the final cross-linked product 90,... 

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