Transition metals, binding catalysis

Throughout this book a major stress is on catalysis in organisms. Catalysis is confined to non-metals and metal ions of attacking power, either as Lewis acids or in oxidation/reduction and this excludes the simplest ions such as Na+, K+ and Ca2+ (and Cl- among anions). The transition metal ions and zinc are the most available powerful catalysts. The metals in a transition series are known to have selective binding properties, exchange rates and oxidation/reduction states, which can be put to use in catalysis in quite different ways (Table 2.13). It is noticeable that especially the complexes of metal elements... 

One more example of metal ion catalysis will be considered briefly. In a now classic paper, Cox (1974) showed that the enolization of 2-acetylpyri-dine (but not 4-acetylpyridine) is catalysed by divalent transition metal ions. Proton abstraction by acetate ions is strongly accelerated by Zn2+, Ni2+ and Cu2+ ions and the transition state stabilization by these ions roughly parallels their abilities to bind to the substrate (Table A6.5). The three metal ions are significantly superior to the proton as electrophilic catalysts, no doubt because they can chelate to both the pyridine nitrogen and the... 

Metal Ion Catalysis Metals, whether tightly bound to the enzyme or taken up from solution along with the substrate, can participate in catalysis in several ways. Ionic interactions between an enzyme-bound metal and a substrate can help orient the substrate for reaction or stabilize charged reaction transition states. This use of weak bonding interactions between metal and substrate is similar to some of the uses of enzyme-substrate binding energy described earlier. Metals can also mediate oxidation-reduction reactions by reversible changes in the metal ion s oxidation state. Nearly a third of all known enzymes require one or more metal ions for catalytic activity. 

Experiments have shown that a metal is required for catalysis to occur but activity is seen for metals other than zinc. Its activity is inhibited by other small molecules that can bind to zinc in place of water and carbon dioxide, in particular cyanide, hydrogen sulfide and chloride that all bind tenaciously to transition metals. As well as its buffering ability, this enzyme represents a valuable method of converting carbon dioxide into carbonate so any advances in mimicking the behaviour of this enzyme may have implications for carbon storage. Conceivably carbon dioxide could be passed through a vat containing an aqueous solution of a carbonic... 

Generally speaking, the role of the enzyme consists of the selective and specific attraction of substrate and the highly efficient catalysis. Every enzyme has its own characteristic feature for example, the specificity in the binding and a charge-relay action in the catalysis in a-chymotrypsin, the contribution of the imidazole moiety as an electron donor to the electrophilicity of zinc ion in carboxypeptidase, the change in the spin state and the reactivity of the transition metal ion by the coordination of the imidazole in the hemochrome. These typical characteristic features are the result of the cooperative actions of the constituents. 

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