Transition state desolvation

Destabilization of the ES complex can involve structural strain, desolvation, or electrostatic effects. Destabilization by strain or distortion is usually just a consequence of the fact (noted previously) that the enzyme is designed to bind the transition state more strongly than the substrate. When the substrate binds, the imperfect nature of the fit results in distortion or strain in the substrate, the enzyme, or both. This means that the amino acid residues that make up the active site are oriented to coordinate the transition-state structure precisely, but will interact with the substrate or product less effectively. 

The possibility of an entropy-enthalpy relationship for the reaction was examined and found to give a correlation coefficient of only 0.727 which was however improved to 0.971 if only the external contributions to these parameters were used, i.e. these contributions arising from solvent interactions only. If compounds with substituents ortho to the amino group were excluded, this further improved to 0.996 and is likely therefore to be real [cf. the comments on p. 9). It was argued that the different amounts of desolvation of the aromatic on going to the transition state would depend upon the substituent, and that the resultant greater freedom for solvent molecules would mean decreased interaction energy or increased enthalpy so that the linear relationship follows. 

Using this relationship for different enzymatic reactions (e.g., Ref. 13) indicates that enzymes do not use the desolvation mechanism and that their reactions have no similarity to the corresponding gas-phase reaction, but rather to the reference reaction in water. In fact, enzymes have evolved as better solvents than water, by providing an improved solvation to the transition state (see Section 9.4). 

The second group of studies tries to explain the solvent effects on enantioselectivity by means of the contribution of substrate solvation to the energetics of the reaction [38], For instance, a theoretical model based on the thermodynamics of substrate solvation was developed [39]. However, this model, based on the determination of the desolvated portion of the substrate transition state by molecular modeling and on the calculation of the activity coefficient by UNIFAC, gave contradictory results. In fact, it was successful in predicting solvent effects on the enantio- and prochiral selectivity of y-chymotrypsin with racemic 3-hydroxy-2-phenylpropionate and 2-substituted 1,3-propanediols [39], whereas it failed in the case of subtilisin and racemic sec-phenetyl alcohol and traws-sobrerol [40]. That substrate solvation by the solvent can contribute to enzyme enantioselectivity was also claimed in the case of subtilisin-catalyzed resolution of secondary alcohols [41]. 

A potential factor for enhancing the effectiveness of catalyzed reactions. The relative importance of this factor will depend on the polarity of the substrate (s), transition state, and reaction product(s). The energy associated with desolvation of substrates must be compensated for by the binding interactions between the substrates and the enzyme. 

Our failed — at least insofar as precise transition state characterization is concerned — attempt was nonetheless instructive i) contrary to what found in ref 30, the surface version of reaction (1) does show a barrier, although small, thus Supporting the view that both desolvation of the Cl ion and weak hydrogen bonding to the nitrate group contribute to the barrier ii) reaction (1) appears to be faster than (1), if it is verified that the proton has transferred away from the adsorption site. Concerning the latter point, as noted in Sec.II., there is experimental support for the view that such a transport does not occur. On the other hand, there is other experimental support for the view that it does, so that it seems fair to say that the situation remains ambiguous from an experimental viewpoint. 

Second, formation of weak bonds between substrate and enzyme also results in desolvation of the substrate. Enzyme-substrate interactions replace most or all of the hydrogen bonds between the substrate and water. Third, binding energy involving weak interactions formed only in the reaction transition state helps to compensate thermodynamically for any distortion, primarily electron redistribution, that the substrate must undergo to react. 

Strain and stress in enzymes arise from several different causes. We have seen in this chapter, and we shall see further in Chapters 15 and 16, that stress and strain may be divided into two processes, substrate destabilization and transition state stabilization. Substrate destabilization may consist of steric strain, where there are unfavorable interactions between the enzyme and the substrate (e.g., with proline racemase, lysozyme) desolvation of the enzyme (e.g., by displacement of two bound water molecules from the carboxylate of Asp-52 of lysozyme) and desolvation of the substrate (e.g., by displacement of any bound water molecules from a peptide28). Transition state stabilization may consist of the presence of transition state binding modes that are not available for the... 

There exists substantial evidence that in reactions that involve oxyanions or amines as bases or as nucleophiles, their partial desolvation, as they enter the transition state, typically has made greater progress than bond formation. In the context of the PNS, this partial loss of solvation represents the early loss of a reactant stabilizing factor and hence reduces the intrinsic rate constant. As discussed at some length in our 1992 chapter,4 for strongly basic oxyanions this desolvation effect often manifests itself in terms of negative deviations from Br Ansted plots and/or in abnormally low p or pnuc values.58,188 In fact, a number of cases have been reported where the pnuc value was close to zero or... 

According to Jencks et al.,193 negative (3nuc values result from a combination of minimal progress of bond formation at the transition state and the requirement for partial desolvation of the nucleophile before it enters the transition state. In a first approximation (3nuc may be expressed by Equation (50) where [3d and (3nuc are defined by Equations (51) and (52), respectively. Kd represents... 

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