The mechanism of the action of copper-dependent quercetin 2,3-dioxygenase （2,3QD） has been investigated by means of hy- brid density functional theory. The 2,3QD enzyme cleaves the O-heterocycle of a quercetin by incorporation of both oxygen atoms into the substrate and releases carbon monoxide. The calculations show that dioxygen attack on the copper complex is energetically favorable. The adduct has a possible near-degeneracy of states between [Cu2＋-（substrate H＋）] and [Cu＋-（sub- strate-H）. ], and in addition the pyramidalized C2 atom is ideally suited for forming a dioxygembridged structure. In the next step, the C3-C4 bond is cleaved and intermediate lnt5 is formed via transition state TS4. Finally, the Oa-Ob and C2-C3 bonds are cleaved, and CO is released in one concerted transition state （TS5） with the barrier of 63.25 and 61.91 k J/tool in the gas phase and protein environments, respectively. On the basis of our proposed reaction mechanism, this is the rate-limiting step of the whole catalytic cycle and is strongly driven by a relatively large exothermicity of 100.86 kJ/mol. Our work provides some valuable fundamental insights into the behavior of this enzyme.
The reaction mechanism of amadori rearrangement in the initial stage of Maillard reaction has been investigated by means of density functional theory calculations in the gaseous phase and aqueous solution.Cyclic ribose and glycine were taken as the model in the amadori rearrangement.Reaction mechanisms have been proposed,and possibility for the formation of different compounds has been evaluated through calculating the relative energy changes for different steps of the reaction by following the total mass balance.The calculations reveal that the amadori rearrangement initialized via the intramolecular rearrangement,transferring one proton from N（3） to O（4） atom.In the next step,the second proton is also transferred from N（3） to O（4） atom,corresponding to the cleavage of C（4）-O（4） bond and the release of one water molecule.Then another proton is transferred from N（3） to C（5） atom via TS3 with the reaction barrier of 58.3 kcal·mol-1 after tunneling the effect correction calculated at the B3LYP/6-31＋G（d） level of theory,and this step is rate limiting for the whole catalytic cycle.Ultimately,the product is generated via keto-enolic tautomerization.Present calculation could provide insights into the reaction mechanism of Maillard reaction since experimental evaluation of the role of intermediates in the Maillard reaction is quite complicated.
