Why nature chose phosphates.

Phosphate esters and anhydrides dominate the living world but are seldom used as intermediates by organic chemists. Phosphoric acid is specially adapted for its role in nucleic acids because it can link two nucleotides and still ionize; the resulting negative charge serves both to stabilize the diesters against hydrolysis and to retain the molecules within a lipid membrane. A similar explanation for stability and retention also holds for phosphates that are intermediary metabolites and for phosphates that serve as energy sources.

Inhibition of orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase by 1-(5'-phospho-beta-d-ribofuranosyl)barbituric acid, 6-azauridine 5'-phosphate, and uridine 5'-phosphate.

1-(5'-Phospho-beta-D-ribofuranosyl)barbituric acid, an analogue of orotidylic acid, binds to orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase about 100000 times as strongly as does the substrate. The Ki at pH 6 is 9 X 10(-12) M and the half-time for dissociation at 4 degrees C is about 10 h. The binding of the barbiturate analogue to the enzyme is thus one of the strongest interactions between small molecules and proteins that have been measured.

The purification of orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase from yeast by affinity chromatography.

We have prepared an affinity column for the purification of orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase from yeast. The column effects a 3200-fold purification from yeast homogenate in one pass; simple additional steps produce enzyme that has been purified 6700-fold and is not contaminated by any other protein that can be detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Overall, 35% of the activity present in the yeast is recovered as pure enzyme.

2-diazo-3,3,3-trifluoropropionyl chloride: reagent for photoaffinity labeling.

2-Diazo-3,3,3-trifluoropropionyl chloride has been synthesized from trifluorodiazoethane and phosgene. Its derivatives are acid stable, can be used to label enzymes, and undergo photolysis with substantially less rearrangement than do derivatives of other known diazoacyl reagents designed for photoaffinity labeling. In particular, the diazotrifluoropropionyl thioester of methyl N-acetylcysteine undergoes photolysis in methanol with about 40% insertion into the - OH bond of the solvent; by contrast, photolysis of other diazoacyl thioesters gives substantially quantitative Wolff rearrangement.

The enthalpies of hydrolysis of acyclic, monocyclic, and glycoside cyclic phosphate diesters.

The enthalpies of hydrolysis of acyclic, monocyclic, and glycoside cyclic phosphate diesters have been measured by flow microcalorimetry using a phosphohydrolase isolated from Enterobacter aerogenes as catalyst. The values so obtained (kilocalories per mol) (at 25 degrees) for sodium salts are: diethyl phosphate, minus 1.8 plus or minus 0.

Diazoacetyl subtilisin.

Subtilisin reacts at pH 6.8-7.8 with p-nitrophenyl diazoacetate to release p-nitrophenol and form diazoacetyl subtilisin.