Enzymes as Catalysts in Synthetic Organic Chemistry [New Synthetic Methods (53)]

Enzymes have great potential as catalysts for use in synthetic organic chemistry. Applications of enzymes in synthesis have so far been limited to a relatively small number of largescale hydrolytic processes used in industry, and to a large number of small-scale syntheses of materials used in analytical procedures and in research. Changes in the technology for production of enzymes (in part attributable to improved methods from classical microbiology, and in part to the promise of genetic engineering) and for their stabilization and manipulation now make these catalysts practical for wider use in large-scale synthetic organic chemistry. This paper reviews the status of the rapidly developing field of enzyme-catalyzed organic synthesis, and outlines both present opportunities and probable future developments in this field.     

Enzyme-catalyzed organic synthesis of sucrose and trehalose with in situ regeneration of UDP-Glucose

This paper describes cell-free enzymatic syntheses of sucrose and trehalose using partially-purified preparations of sucrose and trehalose synthetase. The coupling of the regeneration of uridine-5′-diphosphoglucose (UDP-Glc) with synthesis of the disaccharide offers a practical route to millimol quantities of these carbohydrates. The syntheses used pyruvate kinase, UDP-Glc pyrophosphorylase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase, and the regenerated UDP-Glc was cycled approximately 10 times. This work was supported by the NIH through several grants, most recently GM 30367.     

Stereoselective alpha-Sialylation with Sialyl Xanthate and Phenylsulfenyl Triflate as a Promotor

Reaction alpha- and beta-xanthates 2 and 3 of sialic acid with glycosyl acceptors 5-8 in the presence phenylsulfenyl triflate (PST) as a promotor in a 2:1 mixture of CH(3)CN/CH(2)Cl(2) at low temperature affords alpha-sialosides in good yield and stereoselectivity. PST is prepared in situ by reacting benzenesulfenyl chloride with silver triflate. Less reactive acceptors 5 and 6 give a higher alpha/beta ratio than more reactive allylic alcohol 7 and primary alcohol 8; alpha-stereoselectivity is increased in a dilute solution. A possible mechanism of the reaction that involves intermediate alpha- and beta-nitrilium cations 16 and 17 is discussed.     

Protein synthesis in cell-free reticulocyte lysates on multi-hour incubation

Cell-free protein synthesis in rabbit reticulocyte lysate translation mixtures has been studied during multi-hour incubations. In an impaired lysate obtained from cells stored at 0°C before lysis, and showing a low initial rate of synthesis, translation could be stimulated by a factor of 4 by including RNase inhibitor and additional ATP and GTP. In translation mixtures prepared from normal lysates, protein synthesis could be improved by ∼50% by the addition of excess GTP. The observed increases in protein synthesis were obtained by improved maintenance of the initial rate of synthesis.     

Studying how different terminal groups change the motion of H2NSO2C6H4CONH(EG)3R when bound to the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to explore the motions of series of ligands containing coupled benzenesulfonamide and oligoethylene glycol moieties (H2NSO2C6H4CONH(CH2-CH2OCH2CH2OCH2CH2)R+; R+ = NH3+, NHCOCH2NH3+, NHCOCH(CH2Ph)NH3+) bound at the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII; E.C. 4.2.1.1). These complexes have been examined previously by X-ray crystallography; the locations of the terminal groups of these ligands were not defined in the crystal structures. These stimulations, carried out in the presence of water, provide dynamic information about the motion of the bound ligand that supplements the quasistatic information from crystallography. Our results suggested that the Gly and Phe groups of these ligands interacted weakly with the protein adjacent to the active site. Quantitative estimates of energies of binding did not correlate usefully with observed free energies of binding, but in the absence of information about entropies, it is not possible to tell if the lack of correlation between calculated energies and observed free energies represents inaccuracies in the energies, or a compensation between enthalpies and entropies. When the terminal Phe group was placed near a previously identified hydrophobic patch in the active site (Phe20 and Pro202) the average conformation of the ligand inferred from this simulation was inconsistent with that from the crystal structure; this result illustrates the problems of misleading local minima in these types of simulations.     

Isomer energy differences for the C4H3 and C4H5 isomers using diffusion Monte Carlo

A new diffusion Monte Carlo study is performed on the isomers of C4H3 and C4H5 emulating the methodology of a previous study (Int. J. Chem. Kinet. 2001, 33, 808). Using the same trial wave function form of the previous study, substantially different isomerization energies were found owing to the use of larger walker populations in the present work. The energy differences between the E and i isomers of C4H3 were found to be 10.5 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol and for C4H5, 9.7 +/- 0.6 kcal/mol. These results are in reasonable accord with recent MRCI and CCSD(T) findings.     

Components for integrated poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic systems

This review describes the design and fabrication of microfluidic systems in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). PDMS is a soft polymer with attractive physical and chemical properties: elasticity, optical transparency, flexible surface chemistry, low permeability to water, and low electrical conductivity. Soft lithography makes fabrication of microfluidic systems in PDMS particularly easy. Integration of components, and interfacing of devices with the user, is also convenient and simpler in PDMS than in systems made in hard materials. Fabrication of both single and multilayer microfluidic systems is straightforward in PDMS. Several components are described in detail: a passive chaotic mixer, pneumatically actuated switches and valves, a magnetic filter, functional membranes, and optical components.     

Replacing -CH2CH2- with -CONH- does not significantly change rates of charge transport through Ag(TS)-SAM//Ga2O3/EGaIn junctions

This paper describes physical-organic studies of charge transport by tunneling through self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), based on systematic variations of the structure of the molecules constituting the SAM. Replacing a -CH(2)CH(2)- group with a -CONH- group changes the dipole moment and polarizability of a portion of the molecule and has, in principle, the potential to change the rate of charge transport through the SAM. In practice, this substitution produces no significant change in the rate of charge transport across junctions of the structure Ag(TS)-S(CH(2))(m)X(CH(2))(n)H//Ga(2)O(3)/EGaIn (TS = template stripped, X = -CH(2)CH(2)- or -CONH-, and EGaIn = eutectic alloy of gallium and indium). Incorporation of the amide group does, however, increase the yields of working (non-shorting) junctions (when compared to n-alkanethiolates of the same length). These results suggest that synthetic schemes that combine a thiol group on one end of a molecule with a group, R, to be tested, on the other (e.g., HS~CONH~R) using an amide-based coupling provide practical routes to molecules useful in studies of molecular electronics.