Non-corrin cobalt

Non-corrin cobalt has a number of interesting applications in the chemical industry, for example in the hydroformylation (OXO) reaction between CO, H2 and olefins. A number of non-corrin Co-containing enzymes have been described, including methionine aminopep-tidase, prolidase, nitrile hydratase and glucose isomerase. We describe the best characterized of these, namely the E. coli methionine aminopeptidase, a ubiquitous enzyme, which cleaves N-terminal methionine from newly translated polypeptide chains. The active site of the enzyme (Figure 15.13) contains two Co(II) ions that are coordinated by the side-chain atoms of five amino acid residues. The distance between the two Co2+ is similar to that between the two Zn2+ atoms in leucine aminopeptidase, and indeed the catalytic mechanism of methionine aminopeptidase shares many features with other metalloproteases, in particular leucine aminopeptidases. 

As shown in Scheme 1, NHase catalyzes the conversion of nitriles to amides 4), The active site contains either a non-corrin cobalt(III) or non-heme iron(III). Amino acid sequence comparisons have shown that the primary coordination sphere is conserved regardless of the identity of the metal center and consists of a -C-S-L-C-S-C- motif (5). EPR studies on Fe-NHase revealed the iron center maintains a low-spin Fe(III) state throughout the catalytic cycle, and that the iron center has a variable coordination site for substrate interaction (6). These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the enzyme functions solely as a hydrolytic (i.e., redox-inactive) catalyst. Incubation of the enzyme with nitric oxide in the dark inactivates the enzyme. Exposure to light was found to reinstate activity with concomitant loss of NO, thus revealing a novel photo-regulatory mechanism (7-70). 

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