1. A specimen of stereospecifically 2-tritiated 3-hydroxybutyric acid was prepared by hydroboration of ethyl crotonate. It was assumed that the hydroboration reaction took a syn course and hence that (2R,3S) + (2S,3R)-3-hydro~y[2-~H,]butyric acid was formed after oxidation and hydrolysis.2. 3RS-3-Hydro~y[2-~H,]butyric acid, symmetrically tritiated at C-2, was prepared by isotopic exchange of ethyl acetoacetate in tritiated water, followed by reduction and hydrolysis.3. The 3R-enantiomers of the acids listed under paragraphs (1) and (2) were destroyed enzymically by use of 3R-specific 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and the residual 3S-enantiomers were isolated.4. The resulting specimens of 2R,3S-3-hydro~y[2-~H,]butyric acid and 3S-3-hydro~y[2-~H,]-butyric acid were converted chemically to the acyl-CoA derivatives. These were incubated with enoylCoA hydratase.
In the presence of the enoyl-CoA hydratase symmetrically labelled 3S-3-hydro~y[2-~H,]butyryl-CoA lost nearly 50 % of its tritium label; 2R,3S-3-hydro~y[2-~H,]butyryl-CoA lost about 78 %.6. It was concluded that the elimination of the elements of water from 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA on the hydratase occurs stereospecifically with syn geometry.Enoyl-CoA hydratase is responsible for the hydration of 2-enoyl-acyl-CoA esters during the C-3 oxidation of fatty acids. The enzyme isolated from beef liver is relatively non-specific, hydrating, for example, crotonyl-CoA to the 3S-hydroxybutyryl-CoA and isocrotonyl-CoA to the 3R-ester, the latter reaction occurring more slowly [2]. However, the biologically important reaction is the hydration of the trans-enoyl esters to the 3S-product. An investigation of the stereochemistry of the reaction was undertaken not only to gain insight into the chemistry of the enzymic process but also as a means for preparing stereo-A preliminary account of this work has appeared elsewhere [I] but the stereochemical course of the enoyl-CoA hydratase reaction had erroneously been given as anti.Enzymes. Acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase or thiolase (EC 2.3.1.9); carboxylesterase (EC 3.1 . chemically-defined substrates for a second enzyme, acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase. The work with this second enzyme is reported in the accompanying Determination of the direction of the hydratasecatalyzed dehydration requires preparation of a substrate of known or predictable stereochemistry. This was done by hydroboration of ethyl crotonate since the hydroboration reaction has been found to lead to the addition of the elements of water to a double bond with a high degree of stereospecificity. It has been shown in the few cases where A"-unsaturated esters were subjected to hydroboration that reduction of the ester group occurs as the predominant side reaction [4,5]. However, ethyl 3-hydroxypropionate has been prepared in 9 % yield from ethyl acrylate [4].A potential problem in stereochemical experiments with enoyl-CoA hydratase is the presence of contaminating activities, those of 3-cis,2-trans-enoyl-CoA isomerase [6] and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA 3-epimerase [6,7]. The form...