Inhibition of chicken liver carboxylesterase by activated carbonyls and carbonyl hydrates

Identical Kcat values (approximately 40 s-1) are obtained for the chicken liver carboxylesterase catalyzed hydrolysis of phenyl, p-nitrophenyl and o-nitrophenyl benzoates providing support for the involvement of an acyl-enzyme pathway, with the rate-limiting deacylation of a common benzoyl-enzyme intermediate. Chicken liver carboxylesterase catalyzed fragmentation of (E)-benzilmonoxime O-2,4-dinitrophenyl ether shows a pH dependence on a group active in the free base form with a pK'a approximately 5.0. The Ki-pH profile for benzil inhibition shows a dependence on a similar group with a pK'a = 5.4. The reactions between chicken liver carboxylesterase and the hydrated aldehyde, chloral hydrate, have shown this compound to be at once a substrate and potent inhibitor of the enzyme. The kinetics of inhibition are consistent with a mechanism in which the bound hydrate is first dehydrated in a rate-limiting step catalyzed by the enzyme. Nucleophilic attack by the active-site serine on the parent aldehyde produces a hemiacetal adduct. The Ki value for chloral hydrate inhibition calculated from the kinetic analysis (90 nM) compares favourably with the value measured from the steady-state kinetics (87 nM).