Carbohydrates, which have long been of interest to chemists as model compounds for the study of the stereochemical aspects of chemical reactions, have recently attracted the interest of biochemists who have examined the stereochemical aspects of their enzyme-catalyzed reactions. A given monosaccharide can exist in several forms in solution, including the acyclic free carbonyl and hydrated carbonyl (gem-diol) forms and the cyclic furanose and pyranose hemiacetal forms. A question arises, however, as to whether enzymes which utilize these sugars as substrates are able to use each of the tautomeric forms. For example, an enzyme may be able to bind all forms but utilize only one in the catalytic reaction. Where only a single form is utilized, the other forms either may be converted to the reactive form by the enzyme or may function as inhibitors. The latter case is especially significant if the reactive form is present in a very low proportion in the tautomeric equilibrium. It is also possible that a given enzyme might bind and utilize only one of the forms present in the equilibrium. It is conceivable that, if the substrate form were used a t a faster rate than it was formed in the tautomeric equilibrium, the rate of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction would be under "tautomeric control".In order to describe the kinetic mechanism of an enzyme whose substrate exists in multiple tautomeric forms in solution, it is necessary to determine the proportion of each form present in the equilibrium and the mode of interaction of each form with the enzyme. Enzymes which utilize phosphorylated esters of keto sugars have received much attention in this regard,1-7 and it has been found that they do indeed recognize and differentially utilize tautomeric forms of their substrates.It is the purpose of this Account to summarize the methods by which the tautomeric compositions of these substrates have been established. The present review will concern itself with the tautomeric compositions of the phosphorylated keto sugars D-fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, D-fructose 6-phosphate, and 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone phosphate, and the keto sugars D-fructose, D-tagatose, L-sorbose, and D-pSiC0Se. Although every chemist might not be interested in the structures of these molecules per se, the methods by which these structures have been established are of more general interest because of their applicability to isolation and structural characterization of cell surface antigens and on the development of mycobacterial components as immunotherapeutic agents for cancer.the structural characterization of a variety of organic compounds.
Characterization of Acyclic Forms1,3-Dihydroxy-2-propanone phosphate can exist in the acyclic free keto (1) and hydraed keto (2) forms in solution, but D-fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, in addition to the free keto (3) and hydrated keto (4) forms, can also exist in the cyclic a-furanose (5) and @-furanose (6)