Sulfate diester hydrolysis

Despite all the uncertainties in this calculation, it looks like sulfate diester hydrolysis should be stepwise or very close to it, because the dissociative intermediate 12 is 35 kcal/mol higher in energy than the associative intermediate 11. 

Phosphoric and sulfuric acid derivatives possess crucial properties that allow them to uniquely fill their many roles in biochemistry. Phosphoric acid may be esterified to form a monoester, diester, or triester (Figure 1). Sulfuric acid may be esterified at one or two positions, to form a monoester or a diester. Sulfate diesters are highly reactive, and have not been found in nature nor do phosphate triesters occur naturally. The hydrolysis of both phosphate and sulfate esters are thermodynamically favorable, but nucleophiles are repelled by the negative charge of the ionized forms. The resulting kinetic stability of phosphate monoesters and diesters, and of sulfate monoesters, is a major factor in their suitability for biological roles. For example, the half-life for hydrolysis of alkyl phosphate dianions by water is approximately 1.1 X 10 years k=2 x 10 s ) at 25°C. Such species... 

Figure 20 Possible mechanisms for sulfate ester hydrolysis catalyzed by members of the AS family. Formation of the sulfoenzyme (a) nucleophilic attack of the hydrated FGly oxygen on the substrate (b) nucleophilic attack of the sulfate oxygen of the substrate on the aldehyde FGly yields a diester sulfoenzyme, which hydrolyzes into the sulfoenzyme monoester. Enzyme desulfurylation (c) elimination of inorganic sulfate leaves an aldehyde moiety, which is hydrated to give a gerr7-diol (d) nucleophilic attack of a nucleophile, such as water, yields the hydrated gerr7-diol FGly.

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