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A6. Reactions of Cysteine

  • Page ID
    4693
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    Cysteine is a potent nucleophile, which is often linked to another Cys to form a covalent disulfide bond.

    Figure: CYSTEINE REACTIONS 1

    • reacts with iodoacetic acid in an SN2 rx., adding a carboxymethyl group to the S.
    • reacts with iodoacetamide in an SN2 rx, adding a carboxyamidomethyl group to S.
    • reacts with N-ethylmaleimide in an addition rx. to the double bond

    cysrx1.gif


    Figure: a quick review of sulfur redox chemistry

    schem.gif


    Figure: CYSTEINE REACTIONS 2

    • reacts with R'-S-S-R'', a disulfide, in a disulfide interchange reaction, to form R-S-S-R'
    • reacts with oxidizing agents like HCOOOH, performic acid, to form cysteic acid.
    • reacts with 5,5-Dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB or Ellman's reagent) in a RSH displacement reaction in which DTNB is cleaved and the 2-nitro-5-thiobenzoic acid anion, which absorbs at 412 nm, is released. Used to quantitate total RSH in a protein

    cysrx2.gif


    This page titled A6. Reactions of Cysteine is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Henry Jakubowski.

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