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at 25 °C.14 In this work, we attempted to analyze the complicated oxidation mechanism of the oxygenated compound 3 in watersaturated methylene chloride. During the autoxidation process, several resonances of oxygen-17 enriched species were detected at low frequencies (Figure 3). The resonance absorption at = 11.1 ppm ( /,/2 = 2080 FIz) is characteristic of H2170, and two sharp resonances at = 168.5 and 174.3 ppm can be assigned to H21702. The two latter peaks must correspond to hydrogen peroxide in two different environments. Only the resonance at 174.3 ppm is observed for H2I702 dissolved in dry toluene. The second peak at 168.5 ppm is then probably due to H21702 in

Ablation of androgen production through surgery is one strategy against prostate cancer, with the current focus placed on pharmaceutical intervention to restrict androgen synthesis selectively, an endeavor that could benefit from the enhanced understanding of enzymatic mechanisms that derives from characterization of key reaction intermediates. The multifunctional cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1) first catalyzes the typical hydroxylation of its primary substrate, pregnenolone (PREG) and then also orchestrates a remarkable C 17 -C 20 bond cleavage (lyase) reaction, converting the 17-hydroxypregnenolone initial product to dehydroepiandrosterone, a process representing the first committed step in the biosynthesis of androgens. Now, we report the capture and structural characterization of intermediates produced during this lyase step: an initial peroxo-anion intermediate, poised for nucleophilic attack on the C 20 position by a substrate-associated H-bond, and the crucial ferric peroxo-hemiacetal intermediate that precedes carbon-carbon (C-C) bond cleavage. These studies provide a rare glimpse at the actual structural determinants of a chemical transformation that carries profound physiological consequences.T he excessive production of androgen, which effectively fuels the progression of cancer, especially prostate cancer, was first treated by surgical methods (1), whereas more modern approaches are focused on the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals that can selectively inhibit androgen synthesis (2, 3). A member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily (4, 5), cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1), occupies a central role in the biosynthesis of steroid hormones in humans. As was first reported by Nakajin and Hall (6) and Nakajin et al. (7) for CYP17 from pig testis, this enzyme catalyzes two fundamentally different types of chemical transformations (5-11), with the first being the efficient hydroxylation of both of its primary substrates, pregnenolone (PREG) and progesterone (PROG), to 17-hydroxypregnenolone (17-OH) PREG and 17-hydroxypregnenolone, respectively (Fig. 1). Importantly, 17-OH PREG is further processed in a second step in which CYP17A1 now catalyzes, not another hydroxylation reaction, but a complex 17,20 carbon-carbon (C-C) bond cleavage (lyase) reaction. This step converts 17-OH PREG to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a process that represents a critical branch point in human steroidogenesis by providing the essential precursor to androgens and various corticosteroids (5-9). Although a similar C-C bond cleavage of 17-OH PROG is also mediated by CYP17A1, it is of less importance in humans because its efficiency is only about 2% of the efficiency of the physiologically important lyase reaction involving 17-OH PREG (10). Recognizing the intensive efforts currently underway to design and test substances that selectively inhibit CYP17A1 (2, 3), there is a pressing need to enhance our understanding of the relevant reaction mechanisms, a task that typically entails identification of key reaction intermediates. Dir...

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