Peroxidase catalysis, steps involved

The first step of peroxidase catalysis involves binding of the peroxide, usually H2C>2, to the heme iron atom to produce a ferric hydroperoxide intermediate [Fe(IE)-OOH]. Kinetic data identify an intermediate prior to Compound I whose formation can be saturated at higher peroxide concentrations. This elusive intermediate, labeled Compound 0, was first observed by Back and Van Wart in the reaction of HRP with H2O2 [14]. They reported that it had absorption maxima at 330 and 410 nm and assigned these spectral properties to the ferric hydroperoxide species [Fe(III)-OOH]. They subsequently detected transient intermediates with similar spectra in the reactions of HRP with alkyl and acyl peroxides [15]. However, other studies questioned whether the species with a split Soret absorption detected by Back and Van Wart was actually the ferric hydroperoxide [16-18], Computational prediction of the spectrum expected for Compound 0 supported the structure proposed by Baek and Van Wart for their intermediate, whereas intermediates observed by others with a conventional, unsplit Soret band may be complexes of ferric HRP with undeprotonated H2O2, that is [Fe(III)-HOOH] [19]. Furthermore, computational analysis of the peroxidase catalytic sequence suggests that the formation of Compound 0 is preceded by formation of an intermediate in which the undeprotonated peroxide is coordinated to the heme iron [20], Indeed, formation of the [Fe(III)-HOOH] complex may be required to make the peroxide sufficiently acidic to be deprotonated by the distal histidine residue in the peroxidase active site [21],... 

Enzymatic transformations of alkaloids by peroxidases most probably occur by single-step oxidations catalyzed by the HRP-I and HRP-II forms of the enzyme. The catalysis of one-electron oxidations of compounds containing aromatic hydrocarbon, hydrazine, phenol, hydroxamic acid, and amine functional groups has been recently reviewed (45, 58, 82). A brief summary of those HRP reactions that involve functional groups most commonly occurring in alkaloids is presented below. 

To clarify the mechanism of reaction of P-450, it is crucial to characterize the reactive intermediates in the rate-determining step. Definitive evidence for an electron-transfer mechanism (C in Scheme 2) for the 7V-demethylation of N,N-dimethylanilines has been obtained by direct observation of the reduction of the high-valent species responsible for P-450 catalysis [96]. For peroxidase, an oxoferryl porphyrin 7r-radical cation, compound I ([(P)Fe =0] "), has been well characterized as the species equivalent to the proposed active intermediate of P-450 [97-103]. Compound I of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) can be readily generated by chemical oxidation of HRP [100-103]. The involvement of the electron-transfer process of compound I in the oxidation of several amines catalyzed by HRP was... 

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