Thiol-Reactive Chemical Reactions

The surest way to inhibit an enzyme is to block the active site irreversibly by chemical reaction with some active species to form a covalent bond. Thus, iodoacetate will irreversibly inactivate thiol proteases by forming the stable carboxymethyl mercaptan. lodoacetate is of course non-selective (many other enzymes would be inactivated), toxic (many sensitive sites would be alkylated) and moreover the drug itself is unstable due to its very reactivity. 

As already discussed in chapter 4, reactive intermediates can react with reduced GSH either by a direct chemical reaction or by a GSH transferase-mediated reaction. If excessive, these reactions can deplete the cellular GSH. Also, reactive metabolites can oxidize GSH and other thiol groups such as those in proteins and thereby cause a change in thiol status. When the rate of oxidation of GSH exceeds the capacity of GSH reductase, then oxidized glutathione (GSSG) is actively transported out of the cell and thereby lost. Thus, reduced GSH may be removed reversibly by oxidation or formation of mixed disulfides with proteins and irreversibly by conjugation or loss of the oxidized form from the cell. Thus, after exposure of cells to quinones such as menadione, which cause oxidative stress, GSH conjugates, mixed disulfides, and GSSG are formed, all of which will reduce the cellular GSH level. 

The reaction of a diene and a dlthlol will simply lead to a chain-extended product. By judicious selection of polyfunctional reactants one Is able to simultaneously Induce chain extension and cross-linking. In such a system, wherein the combined functionalities of the reactants Is greater than four, chain growth proceeds via a curing reaction. Although the number of chemical reactions useful for the preparation of ene and thiol monomers and prepolymers is virtually unlimited, three reactions were mainly selected for the preparation of reactive Intermediates ... 

---