Stereochemistry and deuterium isotope effects in camphor hydroxylation by the cytochrome P450cam monoxygenase system

Biochemistry. 1982 Jan 19;21(2):370-7. doi: 10.1021/bi00531a026.

Abstract

Bacterial cytochrome P450cam catalyzes the hydroxylation of camphor to yield 5-exo-hydroxycamphor in vivo and in a reconstituted system with oxygen, pyridine nucleotide, flavoprotein dehydrogenase, and putidaredoxin. Product is also formed when the ferric form of the hemoprotein is mixed with the exogenous oxidants iodosobenzene, m-chloroperbenzoic acid, and hydrogen peroxide. In this paper we show that when the P450cam-dependent hydroxylation reactions are studied with camphor analogues containing deuterium at either the 5-exo or 5-endo position, a very small intermolecular isotope on the overall reaction velocity is observed and a significant intramolecular isotope effect is documented. We suggest the existence of an intermediate substrate-carbon radical and demonstrate that abstraction can occur from either the exo or endo position at carbon 5 on the camphor skeleton, with the oxygen stereospecifically added to only the Re face to give 5-exo-hydroxycamphor as the unique product. Using these substrates, we observed nearly identical hydrogen/deuterium isotope ratios in the product alcohol for the pyridine nucleotide/atmospheric dioxygen as well as exogenous oxidant supported hydroxylations, suggesting that these reactions share a common hydrogen-abstracting species. The relatively small magnitude of the measured intramolecular isotope effect can be rationalized with a model involving a reversible hydrogen-abstraction step and/or the involvement of heavy-atom motion in the reaction coordinate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Camphor / metabolism*
  • Camphor 5-Monooxygenase
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / metabolism*
  • Deuterium
  • Kinetics
  • Mixed Function Oxygenases / metabolism*
  • NAD / metabolism
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • NAD
  • Camphor
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
  • Deuterium
  • Mixed Function Oxygenases
  • Camphor 5-Monooxygenase