Search results for "Enzyme catalysis"

1,2,3-Triazole in Heterocyclic Compounds, Endowed with Biological Activity, through 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions

2014

1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition reactions can be considered a powerful synthetic tool in the building of heterocyclic rings, with applications in different fields. In this review we focus on the synthesis of biologically active compounds possessing the 1,2,3-triazole core through 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions. The 1,2,3-triazole skeleton can be present as a single disubstituted ring, as a linker between two molecules, or embedded in a polyheterocycle. The cycloaddition reactions are usually catalysed by copper or ruthenium. Domino reactions can be achieved through dipolarophile anion formation, generally followed by cyclisation. The variety of attainable heterocyclic structures gives an ill…

Engineering of a bacterial tyrosinase for improved catalytic efficiency towards D-tyrosine using random and site directed mutagenesis approaches

2013

The tyrosinase gene from Ralstonia solanacearum (GenBank NP518458) was subjected to random mutagenesis resulting in tyrosinase variants (RVC10 and RV145) with up to 3.2-fold improvement in kcat, 5.2-fold lower Km and 16-fold improvement in catalytic efficiency for D-tyrosine. Based on RVC10 and RV145 mutated sequences, single mutation variants were generated with all variants showing increased kcat for D-tyrosine compared to the wild type (WT). All single mutation variants based on RV145 had a higher kcat and Km value compared to the RV145 and thus the combination of four mutations in RV145 was antagonistic for turnover, but synergistic for affinity of the enzyme for D-tyrosine. Single muta…

Lipase-catalysed preparation of acyl derivatives of the germacranolide cnicin

2009

Several acyl derivatives of cnicin were obtained through lipase-catalysed acylation and alcoholysis reactions. In most reactions lipases showed a regioselective behaviour affording only one product. Longer chain acyl derivatives were prepared at lower temperature than the used in lipase-catalysed reactions, to preclude side products formation. The enzymatic approach let to prepare a family of novel acetyl and fatty acid derivatives of cnicin which are not obtainable following traditional organic synthetic procedures. Fil: Monsalve, Leandro Nicolas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis…

Utilization of dense carbon dioxide as an inert solvent for chemical syntheses

2010

Resveratrol-Related Dehydrodimers: Laccase-Mediated Biomimetic Synthesis and Antiproliferative Activity

2012

Seven resveratrol-related monomeric stilbenoids were submitted to biomimetic oxidative coupling in the presence of laccase from Trametes versicolor (TvL), and gave racemic dihydrobenzofuran dehydrodimers (±)-15 to (±)-21. These products, after spectral characterization, were submitted to an antiproliferative activity bioassay against SW480 human colon cancer cells. Five racemates were found to be active, and were resolved by chiral HPLC. The pure enantiomers were subjected to circular dichroism measurements to establish their absolute configurations at C-7 and C-8. These enantiomerically pure compounds were submitted to the antiproliferative activity assay towards SW480 cells, and were all …

Regiospecific oxidation of polycyclic aromatic dihydrodiols by rat liver dihydrodiol dehydrogenase

1991

Rat liver dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (DDH, E.C. 1.3.1.20) has recently been shown to oxidize the highly carcinogenic benz[a]anthracene-3,4- dihydrodiol in an NADP(+)-dependent reaction to its corresponding catechol. The present study is a systematic investigation of the substrate specificity of the purified enzyme towards synthetic trans-dihydrodiol metabolites of phenanthrene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, dibenz[a, h]anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene. DDH exhibited a remarkable regiospecificity of enzymatic catalysis with regard to the site of the dihydrodiol moiety of the parent hydrocarbon. M-region- and, with lower efficiency, bay-region dihydrodiols were found to be good substrates of the e…

Unraveling the Reaction Mechanism of Enzymatic C5-Cytosine Methylation of DNA. A Combined Molecular Dynamics and QM/MM Study of Wild Type and Gln119 …

2016

M.HhaI is a DNA methyltransferase from Haemophilus hemolyticus that catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) to the C5 position of a cytosine. This enzyme is a paradigmatic model for C5 DNA methyltransferases due to its major homology to mammalian enzymes and to the availability of high-resolution structures of the DNA–enzyme complex. In spite of the number of experimental and theoretical analyses carried out for this system, many mechanistic details remain unraveled. We have used full atomistic classical molecular dynamics simulations to explore the protein–SAM–DNA ternary complex, where the target cytosine base is flipped out into the active site for bot…

Theoretical insights in enzyme catalysis

2004

In this tutorial review we show how the methods and techniques of computational chemistry have been applied to the understanding of the physical basis of the rate enhancement of chemical reactions by enzymes. This is to answer the question: Why is the activation free energy in enzyme catalysed reactions smaller than the activation free energy observed in solution? Two important points of view are presented: Transition State (TS) theories and Michaelis Complex (MC) theories. After reviewing some of the most popular computational methods employed, we analyse two particular enzymatic reactions: the conversion of chorismate to prephenate catalysed by Bacillus subtilis chorismate mutase, and a m…

Unraveling the role of protein dynamics in dihydrofolate reductase catalysis

2013

Protein dynamics have controversially been proposed to be at the heart of enzyme catalysis, but identification and analysis of dynamical effects in enzyme-catalyzed reactions have proved very challenging. Here, we tackle this question by comparing an enzyme with its heavy ((15)N, (13)C, (2)H substituted) counterpart, providing a subtle probe of dynamics. The crucial hydride transfer step of the reaction (the chemical step) occurs more slowly in the heavy enzyme. A combination of experimental results, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations, and theoretical analyses identify the origins of the observed differences in reactivity. The generally slightly slower reaction in the heavy e…

Theoretical site-directed mutagenesis: Asp168Ala mutant of lactate dehydrogenase

2008

Molecular simulations based on the use of hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods are able to provide detailed information about the complex enzymatic reactions and the consequences of specific mutations on the activity of the enzyme. In this work, the reduction of pyruvate to lactate catalysed by wild-type and Asp168Ala mutant lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) has been studied by means of simulations using a very flexible molecular model consisting of the full tetramer of the enzyme, together with the cofactor NADH, the substrate and solvent water molecules. Our results indicate that the Asp168Ala mutation provokes a shift in the p K a value of Glu199 that becomes unprotonated at n…