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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Fluorescence-based Monitoring of PAD4 Activity via a Pro-fluorescence Substrate Analog
Published on: November 5, 2014
Elucidation of enzyme mechanisms using fluorinated substrate analogues
Rongson Pongdee1, Hung-Wen Liu
1Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Abstract:
A great variety of biological reactions that are physiologically important are catalyzed by enzymes. Understanding the reaction course of these enzyme-catalyzed transformations are of significant importance since the insights gained from these experiments may facilitate the design of methods to control or mimic their actions. A common strategy to study enzyme catalyses is to use fluorinated substrate analogues as mechanistic probes, since fluorine is an effective hydroxyl group mimic and can also be used to replace a hydrogen atom. Using fluorinated substrate probes have enabled researchers to obtain crucial information regarding the catalytic mechanism of enzymatic reactions. Many of these compounds are good enzyme inhibitors and have been developed into clinically useful chemotherapeutic agents. This review will discuss some examples of the use of fluorine containing compounds as mechanistic probes/enzyme inhibitors, many of which are selected from our own work.
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