On the positional specificity of the oxygenation reaction catalysed by soybean lipoxygenase-1

Lipoxygenase-1 from soybeans is incubated with an isomer of linoleic acid, 13-cis, 16-cis-octadecadienoic acid. Analysis of the oxygenation products indicates that molecular oxygen is stereospecifically introduced mainly at C-17 (n-2) of the fatty acid (in the LS-configuration), and only to a minor extent at C-13 (n-6). These findings contradict previous suggestions about the postional specificity of lipoxygenase-1.