Class D β-lactamases represent a growing and diverse class of penicillin inactivating enzymes that are usually resistant to commercial β-lactamase inhibitors. As many such enzymes are found in multi-drug resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, novel β-lactamase inhibitors are urgently needed. Five unique 6-alkylidene-2'-substituted penicillanic acid sulfones (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) were synthesized and tested against OXA-24, a clinically important β-lactamase that inactivates carbapenems and found in A. baumannii. Based upon the roles Tyr112 and Met223 play in the OXA-24 β-lactamase, we also engineered two variants (Tyr112Ala and Tyr112Ala,Met223Ala) to test the hypothesis that the hydrophobic tunnel formed by these residues influences inhibitor recognition. IC 50 values, against OXA-24, and two OXA-24 β-lactamase variants ranged from 10 ± 1 (4 vs. WT) to 338 ± 20 nM (5 vs. Tyr112Ala, Met223Ala). Compound 4 possessed the lowest K i (500 ± 80 nM vs. WT) and 1 possessed the highest inactivation efficiency (k inact /K i = 0.21 ± 0.02 μM -1 s -1 ). Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry revealed a single covalent adduct, suggesting the formation of an acyl-enzyme intermediate. X-ray structures of OXA-24 complexed to four inhibitors (2.0-2.6 Å) reveal there is formation of stable bicyclic aromatic intermediates with their carbonyl oxygen in the oxyanion hole. These data provide the first structural evidence that 6-alkylidene-2'-substituted penicillin sulfones are effective mechanism-based inactivators of class D β-lactamases. Their unique chemistry makes them developmental candidates. Mechanisms for class D hydrolysis and * Corresponding authors:

Tazobactam, sulbactam, and clavulanic acid are the only β-lactamase inhibitors in clinical use. Comparative inhibitory activities of clavulanic acid, sulbactam, and tazobactam against clinically important β-lactamases conclude that tazobactam is superior to both clavulanic acid and sulbactam. Thus far, the majority of explanations for this phenomenon have relied on kinetic studies, which report differences in the ligands' apparent dissociation constants and number of turnovers before inactivation. Due their innate limitations, these investigations do not examine the identity of intermediates on the reaction pathway and relate them to the efficacy of the inhibitors. In the present study, the reactions between the three inhibitors and SHV-1 β-lactamase have been examined in single crystals using a Raman microscope. The results show that tazobactam forms a predominant population of trans-enamine, a chemically-inert species, with SHV-1 while clavulanate and sulbactam form a mixture of trans-enamine and two labile species, the cis-enamine and imine. The same reactions are then reexamined using a deacylation-deficient variant, SHV E166A, that has been used to trap acyl-enzyme intermediates for X-ray crystallographic analysis. Our Raman data show that significant differences exist between the wild-type and SHV E166A acyl-enzyme populations. Namely, compared to SHV-1, sulbactam shows significantly smaller populations of cis-enamine and imine in the E166A variant while clavulanate exists almost exclusively as trans-enamine in the E166A active site. Using clavulanate as an example, we also show that Raman crystallography can provide novel information on the presence of multiple conformers or tautomers for intermediates within a complex reaction pathway. These insights caution against the interpretation of experimental data obtained with deacylation-deficient β-lactamases to make mechanistic conclusions about inhibitors within the enzyme.