Tunneling in tocopherol-mediated peroxidation of 7-dehydrocholesterol

The Chemical Reactivity of Membrane Lipids

It is well-known that aqueous dispersions of phospholipids spontaneously assemble into bilayer structures. These structures have numerous applications across chemistry and materials science and form the fundamental structural unit of the biological membrane. The particular environment of the lipid bilayer, with a water-poor low dielectric core surrounded by a more polar and better hydrated interfacial region, gives the membrane particular biophysical and physicochemical properties and presents a unique environment for chemical reactions to occur. Many different types of molecule spanning a range of sizes, from dissolved gases through small organics to proteins, are able to interact with membranes and promote chemical changes to lipids that subsequently affect the physicochemical properties of the bilayer. This Review describes the chemical reactivity exhibited by lipids in their membrane form, with an emphasis on conditions where the lipids are well hydrated in the form of bilayers. Key topics include the following: lytic reactions of glyceryl esters, including hydrolysis, aminolysis, and transesterification; oxidation reactions of alkenes in unsaturated fatty acids and sterols, including autoxidation and oxidation by singlet oxygen; reactivity of headgroups, particularly with reactive carbonyl species; and E/Z isomerization of alkenes. The consequences of reactivity for biological activity and biophysical properties are also discussed.

Lipid Peroxidation: Kinetics, Mechanisms, and Products

Recent advances in our understanding of lipid peroxidation, a degenerative process that is believed to play a key role in the pathogenesis of many diseases, are highlighted. In particular, the factors that control the kinetics and regio-/stereochemical outcomes of the autoxidation of both polyunsaturated fatty acids and sterols and the subsequent decomposition of the hydroperoxide products to cytotoxic derivatives are discussed. These advances promise to help clarify the role of lipid peroxidation in cell death and human disease.

Propagation rate constants for the peroxidation of sterols on the biosynthetic pathway to cholesterol

The free radical chain autoxidation of cholesterol and the oxidation products formed, i.e. oxysterols, have been the focus of intensive study for decades. The peroxidation of sterol precursors to cholesterol such as 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) and desmosterol as well as their oxysterols has received less attention. The peroxidation of these sterol precursors can become important under circumstances in which genetic conditions or exposures to small molecules leads to an increase of these biosynthetic intermediates in tissues and fluids. 7-DHC, for example, has a propagation rate constant for peroxidation some 200 times that of cholesterol and this sterol is found at elevated levels in a devastating human genetic condition, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS). The propagation rate constants for peroxidation of sterol intermediates on the biosynthetic pathway to cholesterol were determined by a competition kinetic method, i.e. a peroxyl radical clock. In this work, propagation rate constants for lathosterol, zymostenol, desmosterol, 7-dehydrodesmosterol and other sterols in the Bloch and Kandutsch-Russell pathways are assigned and these rate constants are related to sterol structural features. Furthermore, potential oxysterols products are proposed for sterols whose oxysterol products have not been determined.

Scalable procedure for the fragmentation of hydroperoxides mediated by copper and iron tetrafluoroborate salts

An improved protocol for the formal elimination of propene from organic substrates is reported. This process entails the ozonolytic conversion of an alkene to a methoxy hydroperoxide which undergoes fragmentation mediated by copper and iron. The use of soluble Cu(BF4)2 and Fe(BF4)2 results in reproducible results up to a 100 gram scale.

Competition H(D) kinetic isotope effects in the autoxidation of hydrocarbons

Hydrogen atom transfer is central to many important radical chain sequences. We report here a method for determination of both the primary and secondary isotope effects for symmetrical substrates by the use of NMR. Intramolecular competition reactions were carried out on substrates having an increasing number of deuterium atoms at symmetry-related sites. Products that arise from peroxyl radical abstraction at each position of the various substrates reflect the competition rates for H(D) abstraction. The primary KIE for autoxidation of tetralin was determined to be 15.9 ± 1.4, a value that exceeds the maximum predicted by differences in H(D) zero-point energies (∼7) and strongly suggests that H atom abstraction by the peroxyl radical occurs with substantial quantum mechanical tunneling.