Oxidative Alcohol dehydrogenase

Primary alcohols are oxidized to aldehydes, n-butanol being the substrate oxidized at the highest rate. Although secondary alcohols are oxidized to ketones, the rate is less than for primary alcohols, and tertiary alcohols are not readily oxidized. Alcohol dehydrogenase is inhibited by a number of heterocyclic compounds such as pyrazole, imidazole, and their derivatives. 

NAD and NADH do not appear explicitly in the net equation. It is essential that the recycling of NADH to NAD+ takes place here, just as it does when lactate is produced, so that there can be further anaerobic oxidation. Alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of acetaldehyde to ethanol, is similar to lactate dehydrogenase in many ways. The most striking similarity is that both are NADH-linked dehydrogenases, and both are tetramers. 

Asymmetric alcohol oxidations Alcohol dehydrogenases, oxidases, and peroxidases... 

Many biological processes involve oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds or the reverse process reduction of carbonyl compounds to alcohols Ethanol for example is metabolized m the liver to acetaldehyde Such processes are catalyzed by enzymes the enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of ethanol is called alcohol dehydrogenase... 

The reverse reaction also occurs m living systems NADH reduces acetaldehyde to ethanol m the presence of alcohol dehydrogenase In this process NADH serves as a hydride donor and is oxidized to NAD" while acetaldehyde is reduced... 

Alcohol dehydrogenase (Section 15 11) Enzyme in the liver that catalyzes the oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ke tones... 

The two oxidoreductase systems most frequentiy used for preparation of chiral synthons include baker s yeast and horse hver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLAD). The use of baker s yeast has been recendy reviewed in great detail (6,163) and therefore will not be coveted here. The emphasis here is on dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation and reduction of alcohols, ketones, and keto acid, oxidations at unsaturated carbon, and Bayer-Vidiger oxidations. 

Although alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) also catalyze the oxidation of aldehydes to the corresponding acids, the rate of this reaction is significantly lower. The systems that combine ADH and aldehyde dehydrogenases (EC 1.2.1.5) (AldDH) are much more efficient. For example, HLAD catalyzes the enantioselective oxidation of a number of racemic 1,2-diols to L-a-hydroxy aldehydes which are further converted to L-a-hydroxy acids by AldDH (166). 

Liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is relatively nonspecific and will oxidize ethanol or other alcohols, including methanol. Methanol oxidation yields formaldehyde, which is quite toxic, causing, among other things, blindness. Mistaking it for the cheap... 

Alcohol dehydrogenase is a cytoplasmic enzyme mainly found in the liver, but also in the stomach. The enzyme accomplishes the first step of ethanol metabolism, oxidation to acetaldehyde, which is further metabolized by aldehyde dehydrogenase. Quantitatively, the oxidation of ethanol is more or less independent of the blood concentration and constant with time, i.e. it follows zero-order kinetics (pharmacokinetics). On average, a 70-kg person oxidizes about 10 ml of ethanol per hour. 

Ethanol is almost entirely metabolized in the liver. The first step, oxidation by alcohol dehydrogenase, yields acetaldehyde, a reactive and toxic compound. Essentially all of the acetaldehyde is converted to acetate by the liver enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase. Aldehyde dehydrogenase is inhibited by the drag disulfiram. Given alone, disulfiram is a nontoxic substance. However, ethanol consumption in the presence of... 

Formally, in redox reactions there is transfer of electrons from a donor (the reductant) to the acceptor (the oxidant), forming a redox couple or pair. Oxidations in biological systems are often reactions in which hydrogen is removed from a compound or in which oxygen is added to a compound. An example is the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and then to acetic acid where the oxidant is NAD. catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, respectively. 

Alcohols such as ethanol, 2-propanol, and so on, have been widely used to recycle the coenzyme for the reduction catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase since the enzyme catalyzes both reduction and oxidation. Usually, an excess amount of the hydrogen source is used to push the equilibrium toward formation of product alcohols. 

Reaction temperature is one of the parameters affecting the enantioselectivity of a reaction [16]. For the oxidation of an alcohol, the values of kcat/fQn were determined for the (R)- and (S)-stereodefining enantiomers E is the ratio between them. From the transition state theory, the free energy difference at the transition state between (R) and (S) enantiomers can be calculated from E (Equation 2), and AAG is in turn the function of temperature (Equation 3). The racemic temperature (% ) can be calculated as shown in (Equation 4). Using these equations, % for 2-butanol and 2-pentanol of the Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus alcohol dehydrogenase were determined to be 26 and 77 °C, respectively. 

Ethanol is oxidized by alcohol dehydrogenase (in the presence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide [NAD]) or the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) (in the presence of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate [NADPH]). Acetaldehyde, the first product in ethanol oxidation, is metabolized to acetic acid by aldehyde dehydrogenase in the presence of NAD. Acetic acid is broken down through the citric acid cycle to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). Impairment of the metabolism of acetaldehyde to acetic acid is the major mechanism of action of disulfiram for the treatment of alcoholism. 

Alcoholism leads to fat accumulation in the liver, hyperlipidemia, and ultimately cirrhosis. The exact mechanism of action of ethanol in the long term is stiU uncertain. Ethanol consumption over a long period leads to the accumulation of fatty acids in the liver that are derived from endogenous synthesis rather than from increased mobilization from adipose tissue. There is no impairment of hepatic synthesis of protein after ethanol ingestion. Oxidation of ethanol by alcohol dehydrogenase leads to excess production of NADH. 

Figure 6 Enantioselective oxidation of secondary alcohols with secondary alcohol dehydrogenase (SADH), from a thermophihc bacterium (log E is used in...

Zinc-containing alcohol dehydrogenases take up two electrons and a proton from alcohols in the form of a hydride. The hydride acceptor is usually NAD(P) (the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) or its phosphorylated derivative, NADPH). Several liver alcohol dehydrogenases have been structurally characterized, and Pig. 17.8 shows the environment around the catalytic Zn center and the bound NADH cofactor. 

Alcohol dehydrogenases found in certain microorganisms utilize a pyrroloquino-line quinone (PQQ) or flavin cofactor to pass electrons released upon oxidation of alcohols to the heme electron-acceptor protein, cytochrome c. These membrane-associated alcohol dehydrogenases form part of a respiratory chain, and the energy from fuel oxidation therefore contributes to generation of a proton gradient across... 

There have been a number of reports of electrocatalysis of alcohol oxidation using immobilized PQQ-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases or flavin-containing alcohol dehydrogenases or oxidases with dissolved mediators in solution. Co-immobihzing the mediator with the enzyme is advantageous, as set out in Section 17.1, and several such strategies have been employed for electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation. 

Figure 17.19 A membianeless ethanol/02 enz3fme fuel cell. Alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase catalyze a stepwise oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and then to acetate, passing electrons to the anode via the mediator NAD+/NADH. At the carhon cathode, electrons are passed via the [Ru(2,2 -bipyridyl)3] and biUverdin/bilimbin couples to bilirubin oxidase, which catalyzes O2 reduction to H2O. (a) Schematic representation of the reactions occruring. (b) Power/cmrent response for the ceU operating in buffered solution at pH 7.15, containing 1 mM ethanol and 1 mM NAD. Panel (b) reprinted from Topcagic and Minteer [2006]. Copyright Elsevier, 2006.

The alcohol tolerance of O2 reduction by bilirubin oxidase means that membraneless designs should be possible provided that the enzymes and mediators (if required) are immoblized at the electrodes. Minteer and co-workers have made use of NAD -dependent alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes trapped within a tetraaUcylammonium ion-exchanged Nafion film incorporating NAD+/NADH for oxidation of methanol or ethanol [Akers et al., 2005 Topcagic and Minteer, 2006]. The polymer is coated onto an electrode modified with polymethylene green, which acts as an electrocatalyst... 

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