Nitro Nitrophenyl acetate, hydrolysis

As one might expect the rate of p-nitrophenyl heptanoate hydrolysis increased at low ethanol concentrations as a result of apolar binding. The rate of p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis also increased markedly at low ethanol concentration. This finding was explained by a conformational effect on the polymer, that is, lower ethanol concentration brings about a shrinkage of the polymer, which increases concerted interactions of the imidazole residues. The hydrolysis of 3-nitro-4-dodecanoyloxybenzoate was found to be 1700 times faster in the presence of poly[4(5)-vinylimidazole] compared to free imidazole (77). A double-displacement mechanism was demonstrated for this system (75). 

The work of Kawanami et al., who produced a MIP to catalyse p-nitro-phenyl acetate hydrolysis, serves to illustrate the methodology (Fig. 6) [124]. p-Nitrophenyl phosphate, employed as a template molecule, was observed to form an insoluble complex when mixed in solution with a 10-fold excess of the chosen functional monomer, 1-vinylimidazole this was then copolymerised with a 20-fold excess of divinylbenzene. Following polymerisation. 

Photolysis of 4- and 3-nitrophenyl acetates (176 —> 177 178 —> 179) in neutral aqueous solution leads to the corresponding phenols with quantum yields 0.002 and O.OO6105 (equation 84). A greater difference in the photoreactivity (quantum yields of 0.002 and 0.129, respectively) is shown between 2-mcthoxy-4-nitrophenyl acetate 180 and 2-methoxy-5-nitrophenyl acetate 182. The nitro substituent clearly exhibits a meta-activating effect in the hydrolysis of phenyl acetates. 

Serine peptidases can hydrolyze both esters and amides, but there are marked differences in the kinetics of hydrolysis of the two types of substrates as monitored in vitro. Thus, the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl acetate by a-chy-motrypsin occurs in two distinct phases [7] [22-24]. When large amounts of enzyme are used, there is an initial rapid burst in the production of 4-nitro-phenol, followed by its formation at a much slower steady-state rate (Fig. 3.7). It was shown that the initial burst of 4-nitrophenol corresponds to the formation of the acyl-enzyme complex (acylation step). The slower steady-state production of 4-nitrophenol corresponds to the hydrolysis of the acetyl-enzyme complex, regenerating the free enzyme. This second step, called deacylation, is much slower than the first, so that it determines the overall rate of ester hydrolysis. The rate of the deacylation step in ester hydrolysis is pH-dependent and can be slowed to such an extent that, at low pH, the acyl-enzyme complex can be isolated. 

Bruice and Sturtevant, (1959) and Bruice, (1959) found extremely facile intramolecular nucleophilic attack by neighbouring imidazole in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl 7-(4-imidazoyl)butyrate [19]. The rate constant for imidazole participation (release of p-nitro-phenolate) in this reaction is nearly identical with the rate constant for a-chymotrypsin catalysed release of p-nitrophenolate ion [190 min in equation (11) at pH 7 and 25°] from p-nitrophenyl acetate. Comparison of the rate constant for intramolecular imidazole participation to that for the analogous bimolecular reaction (imidazole attack on p-nitrophenyl acetate) (s" /m s )... 

Acyl-enzyme intermediates. Serine proteases are probably the most studied of any group of enzymes.229 Early work was focused on the digestive enzymes. The pseudosubstrate, p-nitrophenyl acetate, reacts with chymotrypsin at pH 4 (far below the optimum pH for hydrolysis) with rapid release of p-nitro-phenol and formation of acetyl derivative of the enzyme. 

Fig. 11.6 (A) Spectroscopic detection of acetylimidazole in the imidazole-catalysed hydrolysis of 4-nitro-phenyl acetate at pH 5 (D) and at pH 6 (E) curves are calculated from data in reference [12] and the curve for the acetate ion product (C) is for pH 5. (B) Reaction of imidazole with 4-nitrophenyl acetate (k) and the hydrolysis of acetyl imidazole (k2) curves constructed from data in references [13] and [12].

It was shown (Overberger and Sannes, 1974) that the polymeric imidazole was about 10 times as reactive as the monomeric imidazole in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate and certain 3-nitro-4-acyloxybenzoic acids. The increased catalytic activity of the polymeric imidazoles has been attributed to the cooperative interactions of the imidazole moieties anchored on the polymer chain at regular intervals (Scheme 13-3). Although practical applications of polyvinylimidazoles as catalytic nucleophiles in ester hydrolysis have not been made, it appears that they can provide quite effective and reusable solid-phase catalysts for such reactions. 

Relative rates of hydrolysis were determined with 0.5 ml reaction mixtures in 0.1 M sodium acetate buffer, pH 5.0, at 37°. Liberated phosphate was measured by the method of C. H. Fiske and Y. SubbaRow [JBC 66, 375 (1925)]. The amounts of enzyme used were 0.22 unit of crystalline enzyme and 0.24 unit of peak II enzyme. The concentration of substrate and inhibitor was 1.0 mM. For inhibitor study, 1.0 mM p-nitrophenyl phosphate was used as substrate. Inhibition was calculated from the amount of p-nitro-phenol released and expressed as fractional inhibition. 

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