Trypsin absorption spectrum

When racemic 173 (R = Me) was hydrolyzed in the presence of chymo-trypsin, the resulting optically active acid 173 (R = H) exhibited an ORD absorption spectrum characteristic of L-phenylalanine the starting ester possessed an axially oriented carbomethoxy group.338-362 Atropisomerism and conformational asymmetry of a precisely definable nature in a substrate are therefore recognized by chymotrypsin. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that the chymotrypsin-active isomer has an axial ester moiety in the solid state, and that the ester mutarotates in solution to a CD-inactive isomer, whose ester group is in the equatorial position.363... 

The second modified flavin of natural origin to be discovered was 8a-S-cysteinyl-FAD, the coenzyme of monoamino oxidase from liver and kidney outer mitochondrial membranes. Taking their departure from investigations of Yasunobu (8J) and Hellerman (SO), which indicated the presence of covalently bound flavin in preparations of this enzyme, Singer and his group (85, 185) isolated the flavinyl peptide by degradation of MAO with trypsin-chymotrypsin and identified cysteine as the amino acid residue bound next to the flavin moiety (184). The absorption spectrum of the flavin peptide from monoamino oxidase is readily differentiated from that of riboflavin by a hypsochromic shift of the second absorption band (360 nm, compare with 372 for riboflavin), in the neutral oxidized state (44, 184). It is similar to that of 8a-histidyl-riboflavin in the cationic state in that the band centered around 400 nm (abs. max. 375 nm, shoulder at 410 nm) is partially resolved. The fluorescence emission (4, 30) is only 10% of that of riboflavin, but oxidation with peracids raises it to 90% of riboflavin emission. 

As already described the enzyme-modified 7S protein retains a high molecular weight like the native protein it is excluded by Bio-Gel P-150 which has an exclusion limit of 150,000 daltons. The specificity of rennin is such that it is easy to control and limit the extent of digestion. When the enzyme action is monitored by ultraviolet absorption it is apparent that the rennin action is quite different from that obtained with an enzyme such as trypsin (Figure 1). Thus the UV difference spectrum for the rennin-modified protein shows an initial unfolding of the 7S protein chains as indicated by a negative peak at 236 nm. As rennin action continued this negative peak was replaced by a positive peak at about 237 nm characteristic of an ordered secondary structure. 

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