Fe(III)- and Mn(III)-meso-tetraarylporphyrin catalysis of H(2)O(2) oxidation of dibenzyl and phenyl-2-chloroethyl sulfides, 1, is investigated in ethanol with the aim of designing catalytic systems for mustard decontamination. The sulfide conversion, the sulfoxide and sulfone yields, the oxygen transfer from H(2)O(2) to the sulfide, and the catalyst stability depend markedly on the metal, on the substituents of its ligand, and on the presence or the absence of a cocatalyst, imidazole or ammonium acetate. With Fe, sulfones, the only oxidation products, are readily obtained whatever the ligand (TPP, F(20)TPP, or TDCPP) and the cocatalyst; the oxygen transfer is fairly good, up to 95% when the catalyst concentration is small ([1]/[Cat] = 420); the catalyst breakdown is insignificant only in the absence of any cocatalyst. With Mn, the sulfide conversion is achieved completely when the ligand is TDCPP or TSO(3)PP, but not F(20)TPP or TPP; a mixture of sulfoxide, 2, and sulfone, 3, is always obtained with [2]/[3] = 3.5-0.85 depending on the ligand and the cocatalyst (electron withdrawing substituents favor 3 and NH(4)OAc, 2). The catalyst stability is very good, but the oxygen transfer is poor whatever the ligand and the cocatalyst. These results are discussed in terms of a scheme in which sulfide oxygenation, H(2)O(2) dismutation, and oxidative ligand breaking compete. It is shown that the efficiency of the oxygen transfer is related not only to the rate constant of the dismutation route but also to the concentration of the active metal-oxo intermediate, most likely a perferryl or permanganyl species, i.e., to the rate of its formation.

The presence of a stable tertiary structure in the bioactive N-terminal portion of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a major hormone in the maintenance of extracellular calcium homeostasis, is still debated. In this work, 15N relaxation parameters of the 33 backbone amides of human PTH(1-34) were determined in phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS) and in the presence of dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles. The relaxation parameters were analyzed using both the model-free formalism (G. Lipari and A. Szabo, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1982, Vol. 104, pp. 4546-4549) and the reduced spectral density functions approach (J.-F. Lefevre, K. T. Dayie, J. W. Peng, and G. Wagner, Biochemistry, 1996, Vol. 35, pp. 2674-2686). In PBS, the region around Gly12 possesses a high degree of flexibility and the C-terminal helix is less flexible than the N-terminal one. In the presence of DPC micelles, the mobility of the entire molecule is reduced, but the stability of the N-terminal helix increases relative to the C-terminal one. A point of relatively higher mobility at residue Gly12 is still present and a new site of local mobility at residues 16-17 is generated. These results justify the lack of experimental nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) restraints with lack of tertiary structure and support the hypothesis that, in the absence of the receptor, the relative spatial orientation of the two N- and C-terminal helices is undefined. The flexibility in the midregion of PTH(1-34), maintained in the presence of the membrane-mimetic environment, may enable the correct relative disposition of the two helices, favoring a productive interaction with the receptor.