A kinetic study has been made of the trypsin-catalyzed hydrolysis of N-benzoyl-L-alanine methyl ester, at pH values ranging from 6 to 10. The substrate concentrations varied from 1.7 × 10−3 to 4.3 × 10−2 M. From the rates were calculated, at each pH, values of [Formula: see text] (corresponding to [Formula: see text]), [Formula: see text] (corresponding to [Formula: see text]) and [Formula: see text] The specific levorotation of trypsin was measured and found to vary with pH in the pH region 5–11, the change in specific rotation following the ionization of a single group with pK(app) of 9.4. At pH 11 the specific rotation of trypsin, its zymogen, and its phosphorylated derivative were approximately the same, suggesting similar conformations for all three forms of the protein.The kinetic results on the acid side were very similar to those obtained by other investigators for chymotrypsin; they imply that there is a group of [Formula: see text] in the free enzyme, presumably the imidazole function of a histidine residue, and that this group is involved in acylation and deacylation, which can only occur if it is unprotonated. The behavior on the basic side was found to be different from that with chymotrypsin revealing a decrease in [Formula: see text] at high pH corresponding to a value of [Formula: see text] whereas [Formula: see text] showed sigmoid pH-dependence. An interpretation of these results that is consistent with all available information is that a group of [Formula: see text] (presumably the —NH3+ function of the terminal isoleucine) controls the conformation and thereby the activity of the enzyme at different stages of complex formation. In contrast to chymotrypsin, the pK of this ionizing group appears to be generally lowered by covalent complex formation between trypsin and its substrates.
Oxidative Study of Benzaldehyde by Isoqauinolinium Bromo Chromate
