Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), a dietary requirement for human health, is an electron donor for several enzymatic actions, functions as an antioxidant, and is implicated in host defense mechanisms, endocrine function and the visual process (lens). Recent renewed interest in the biochemistry of ascorbic acid has been prompted by the realization that relatively little is known concerning the concentrations of the vitamin required for optimum functioning of these several roles. In the case of enzymatic reactions, optimal rate of a process is defined as that concentration that allows the reaction to reach Vmax without toxicity. As part of a program to determine these concentrations, in situ kinetic measurements have been carried out for certain vitamin C-linked reactions. In addition to examination of functional roles of vitamin C, recent characterization of efficient transport mechanisms that translocate vitamin C across cellular membranes has emphasized the importance of the vitamin to biological processes. In previous work, we synthesized radiolabelled 6-deoxy-6-iodoascorbic acid as a tool for studying additional details of the ascorbic acid transport system. Transport studies indicate this will be a useful tool in attempts to isolate the ascorbic acid transport protein. To investigate the importance of the 2-hydroxyl group on ascorbic acid activity, we also previously prepared 2-deoxy-ascorbic acid, and 2-deoxy-2-halo ascorbic acids, including 2-deoxy-2-fluoroascorbic acid, an isosteric and isopolar, non-oxidizable, analogue. In addition, the cyclic hemiketal form of 2,2-difluoro-2-deoxyascorbic acid also was prepared, a structure that corresponds to the cyclic hemiketal form of dehydroascrobic acid. As an additional tool, we now have prepared an ascorbic acid analogue that contains a photoactivatable trifluoromethyl diazirine moiety as a potential photoaffinity label. Transport properties of these analogues, as well as their effects on glutarodoxin, the enzyme that reduces deoxyascorbic acid to ascorbic acid,wereinvestigated. Initial results show that the analogue effectively blocks ascorbate transport, but itself is not transported. Photochemical experiments to date have been inconclusive.
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