title: Mechanistic Insights into Radical-Mediated Oxidation of Tryptophan from ab Initio Quantum Chemistry Calculations and QM/MM Molecular Dynamics Simulations.
abstract: An assessment of the mechanisms of (•)OH and (•)OOH radical-mediated oxidation of tryptophan was performed using density functional theory calculations and ab initio plane-wave Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulations. For the (•)OH reactions, addition to the pyrrole ring at position 2 is the most favored site with a barrierless reaction in the gas phase. The subsequent degradation of this adduct through a H atom transfer to water was intermittently observed in aqueous-phase molecular dynamics simulations. For the (•)OOH reactions, addition to the pyrrole ring at position 2 is the most favored pathway, in contrast to the situation in the model system ethylene, where concerted addition to the double bond is preferred. From the (•)OOH position 2 adduct QM/MM simulations show that formation of oxy-3-indolanaline occurs readily in an aqueous environment. The observed transformation starts from an initial rupture of the O-O bond followed by a H atom transfer with the accompanying loss of an (•)OH radical to solution. Finally, classical molecular dynamics simulations were performed to equate observed differential oxidation rates of various tryptophan residues in monoclonal antibody fragments. It was found that simple parameters derived from simulation correlate well with the experimental data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, E19-502b, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Geoffrey P F
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Late Stage Pharmaceutical Development, Genentech , 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States.
authors.forename: Alavattam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sreedhara
authors.affiliation: Late Stage Pharmaceutical Development, Genentech , 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States.
authors.forename: Jamie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, E19-502b, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Bernhardt L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Trout
mesh_terms: D017665:Hydroxyl Radical / Q000737:chemistry*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017665:Hydroxyl Radical; D014364:Tryptophan