Dihydroceramide Δ4 Desaturase Initiates Substrate Oxidation at C-4
摘要:
The intermolecular primary deuterium isotope effects on the individual C-H bond cleavage steps involved in dihydroceramide Delta (4) desaturation have been determined for the first time by incubating rat liver microsomes with 1:1 mixtures of nonlabeled substrate and the appropriate regiospecifically dideutelatred analogue. Analysis of the enzymatic products via gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry showed that the introduction of the (E) double bond between C-4 and C-5 occurs in two discrete steps: cleavage of the C-4-H bond was found to be very sensitive to isotopic substitution (k(H)/k(D) = 8.0 +/- 0 8). while a negligible isotope effect (k(H)/k(D) = 1.02 +/- 0.07) was observed for the C-5-H bond-breaking step. According to a mechanistic model that we have previously proposed, these results suggest that initial oxidation for this desaturation reaction occurs at C-4. This finding correlates nicely with the observation that 4-hydroxylated products are produced from a similar substrate by a closely related oxidative enzyme in yeast.
The nominal butyl ester ion in the mass spectra of long-chainn-alkyl esters: A postscript
摘要:
Abstractn‐Octadecyl benzoate, taken as a model for long‐chain n‐alkyl carboxylates generally, loses C14H28 under electron impact to yield a product with the same elemental composition as the butyl benzoate molecular ion. This product retains quantitatively one hydrogen from C‐6, and seems to be formed as an oxygen‐protonated 4‐benzoyloxybutyl radical. It reacts further to lose H2O, in which deuterium labeling demostrates that the second hydrogen atom comes predominantly from C‐4. The intermediate reorganization, for which the driving force is presumably furnished by the instability associated with a primary radical, is pictured in terms of cyclization via bonding between the C‐4 radical site and the benzoyl carbon concerted with hydrogen migration via a 4‐membered quasicyclic transition state.