The reversible enolization and hydration of pyruvate: possible roles of keto, enol, and hydrated pyruvate in lactate dehydrogenase catalysis

Abstract

The reversible enolization and hydration of pyruvic acid and pyruvate anion were monitored using spectrophotometric methods at several temperatures. Widely varying values for the equilibrium constant for the enolization of pyruvic acid and pyruvate ion appear in the literature. To accurately determine the position of equilibrium for the enolization reaction, we have developed a method that gives consistent results in which purified samples of sodium pyruvate are first "titrated" with triiodide ion to remove any triiodide-scavenging impurities such as those resulting from aldol condensation reactions. After reequilibration to allow the regeneration of enol pyruvate, the addition of small quantities of triiodide result in an initial burst in the decrease of absorbance at 353 nm, followed by the much slower zero-order decrease due to the formation of new enol pyvuvate molecules. The absorbance change during the burst phase of the reaction is proportional to the enol concentration plus that of any triiodide-scavenging impurity which may be present in the original pyruvate solution. Thus, as the quantity of triiodide used in the pretreatment stage of the experiments is increased, these burst absorbance changes, ΔA, decrease until a constant value of ΔA is reached. Accordingly, this final ΔA value is proportional to enol pyruvate (or enol pyruvic acid) in the absence of triiodide-scavenging impurity, allowing the accurate and reproducible determinations of Kenol. The equilibrium constants for both pyruvate and pyruvic acid are relatively temperature insensitive and, typically, Kenol (pyruvate anion) = 2.6 × 10-5 and Kenol (pyruvic acid) = 7.8 × 10-5 at 25.0°C. The zero-order phase of the reaction of triiodide ion may be used to calculate rate constants for enolization. The hydration and dehydration of pyruvic acid were followed directly by following absorbance changes in the peak at 340 nm due to the keto group. The thermodynamic and kinetic results reported in this paper are used to help determine whether the observed "substrate" inhibition of the lactate dehydrogenase catalyzed reduction of pyruvate is actually caused by keto, hydrated, or enol pyruvate.Key words: pyruvate, enolization, hydration, lactate dehydrogenase.