Further Insights into the Electrooxidation of N-Methyluric Acids and Correlation of Oxidation Potentials with Frontier MO Energies

Abstract

Abstract The electrochemical oxidation of various N-methylated uric acids has been studied at a pyrolytic graphite electrode at physiological pH 7.2. The observed behavior was compared with uric acid to evaluate the effect of a methyl group. The Ep value was found to shift to less positive potentials when a methyl group is present at the N-1 position and to more positive potentials when substitution is at the N-3 position or at nitrogens of the imidazole ring. The values of ΔEp followed the additivity of the substituents effect only when two methyl groups are present in different rings. The methyl groups were also found to increase the electron density at N atoms of uric acids, and an excellent correlation between the oxidation potential and energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital was observed. On the basis of these studies it is concluded that the presence of a methyl group in the pyrimidine ring restricts the formation of allantoin. The peroxidase-catalysed oxidation of the N-methylated derivatives of uric acid was found to follow a pathway similar to that observed during electrochemical oxidation.