Phosphate ester hydrolysis leaving group

Phosphate esters have a variety of mechanistic paths for hydrolysis. Both C-O and P-0 cleavage are possible depending on the situation. A phosphate monoanion is a reasonable leaving group for nucleophilic substitution at carbon and so 8 2 or SnI reactions of neutral phosphate esters are well known. PO cleavage can occur by associative (by way of a pentacoordinate intermediate), dissociative (by way of a metaphosphate species), or concerted (avoiding both of these intermediates) mechanisms. 

SCHEME 10.2 Common pathways of QM formation in biological systems, (a) Stepwise two-electron oxidation by cytochrome P450 or a peroxidase, (b) Enzymatic oxidation of a catechol followed by spontaneous isomerization of the resulting n-quinone. (c) Enzymatic hydrolysis of a phosphate ester followed by base-catalyzed elimination of a leaving group from the benzylic position. 

The nucleotide cyclic AMP (3, 5 -cyclic adenosine monophosphate, cAMP) is a cyclic phosphate ester of particular biochemical significance. It is formed from the triester ATP by the action of the enzyme adenylate cyclase, via nucleophilic attack of the ribose 3 -hydroxyl onto the nearest P=0 group, displacing diphosphate as leaving group. It is subsequently inactivated by hydrolysis to 5 -AMP through the action of a phosphodiesterase enzyme. 

ATP synthesis is achieved by ADP acting as the nucleophile towards this mixed anhydride, attacking the P=0 bond, with the carboxylate being the leaving group. Note that this reaction is favoured, whereas the alternative possibility involving hydrolysis of the phosphate ester does not occur. This is precisely what we would predict knowing the different reactivities of anhydrides and esters (see Section 7.8). This direct synthesis of ATP by a process in which... 

Fig. I. Hydrolysis rates for the monoanions of phosphate esters at IOO°C as a function of the pKa of the conjugate acid of the leaving group. D, p and mNP are di-.p- and m-nitrophenyl phosphates.

Scheme I shows the hydrolysis of a phosphate ester in the presence of tris, which can serve as a phosphate acceptor so that O-phosphoryl-tris is a product as well as P(. It has been shown that in the presence of alcohols such as tris and ethanolamine the rate of substrate utilization is increased, that formation of alcohol exceeds that of phosphate, and that the difference is due to the formation of the O-phosphorylamino alcohol (122, 128). The question was Does the reaction with water and with tris emanate from the Michaelis complex or from a phosphoryl enzyme intermediate (E-P) If the reactions with tris and water stem from a phosphoryl enzyme, the ratio of products tris-phosphate and Pi would be independent of the leaving group RO, but if the reactions stem from the reversible complex containing the leaving group, the ratio of products would depend upon the structure of R. It was found that the ratio of free alcohol to phosphate was 2.39 0.02 for nine different substrates, including esters such as p-cresyl phosphate / -naphthyl phosphate, and phosphoenol pyruvate. This experiment established the occurrence of a phosphoryl enzyme intermediate.

Now we need to remove die acetates and put a phosphate specifically on the 5-position. The acetates can be removed with retention by ester hydrolysis and we already know how to protect the 2-OH and 3-OH groups. They are cis to each other so they will form an acetal with acetone leaving the 5-OH group... 

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