Theoretical evaluation of the substrate-assisted catalysis mechanism for the hydrolysis of phosphate monoester dianions

Quantum chemistry methods coupled with a continuum solvation model have been applied to evaluate the substrate-assisted catalysis (SAC) mechanism recently proposed for the hydrolysis of phosphate monoester dianions. The SAC mechanism, in which a proton from the nucleophile is transferred to a nonbridging phosphoryl oxygen atom of the substrate prior to attack, has been proposed in opposition to the widely accepted mechanism of direct nucleophilic reaction. We have assessed the SAC proposal for the hydrolysis of three representative phosphate monoester dianions (2,4-dinitrophenyl phosphate, phenyl phosphate, and methyl phosphate) by considering the reactivity of the hydroxide ion toward the phosphorus center of the corresponding singly protonated monoesters. The reliability of the calculations was verified by comparing the calculated and the observed values of the activation free energies for the analogous S_N2(P) reactions of F⁻ with the monoanion of the monoester 2,4-dinitrophenyl phosphate and its diester analogue, methyl 2,4-dinitrophenyl phosphate. It was found that the orientation of the phosphate hydrogen atom has important implications with regard to the nature of the transition state. Hard nucleophiles such as OH⁻ and F⁻ can attack the phosphorus atom of a singly protonated phosphate monoester only if the phosphate hydrogen atom is oriented toward the leaving-group oxygen atom. As a result of this proton orientation, the SAC mechanism in solution is characterized by a small Brønsted coefficient value (β_lg=−0.25). This mechanism is unlikely to apply to aryl phosphates, but becomes a likely possibility for alkyl phosphate esters. If oxyanionic nucleophiles of pK_a<11 are involved, as in alkaline phosphatase, then the S_N2(P) reaction may proceed with the phosphate hydrogen atom oriented toward the nucleophile. In this situation, a large negative value of β_lg (−0.95) is predicted for the substrate-assisted catalysis mechanism.