Mutarotation kinetic isotope effects

The original experimental evidence for concerted acid-base catalysis of the mutarotation in benzene is now considered unsound133 134 and concerted acid-base catalysis has been difficult to prove for nonenzy-matic reactions in aqueous solution. However, measurements of kinetic isotope effects seem to support Swain and Brown s interpretation.135 Concerted acid-base catalysis by acetic acid and acetate ions may have been observed for the enolization of acetone136 and it may be employed by enzymes.1363... 

Differences in the rate of mutarotation of sugars in water and in deuterium oxide provide a valuable means for studying mutarotation reactions.135,224,233 237,238 The difference in rates arises from a combination of kinetic and solvent isotope-effects, and is usually expressed as a ratio,knlkD, called the isotope effect. Kinetic isotope-effects are caused by differences in the energy required for alteration of the normal and the isotopic bonds in the corresponding transition states solvent isotope-effects can exist when the isotopic compound is used both as a reactant and as a solvent. 

In addition to the reaction sequence shown, the substrate may have to mutarotate non-enzymically to the form favored for affording the first enzyme-substrate complex. In such multi-stage reactions, the observed isotope-effects for the overall reaction are usually low. The situation is further complicated by possible differences in Km between a deuterated substrate and the unlabeled substrate, so that, unless a full kinetic analysis of the reaction is performed, the values determined for the apparent isotope-effect may vary. 

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