Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1376623 Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2008 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

The interaction of tyrosinase with the anticancer drug procarbazine has been investigated. In the presence of the enzyme alone no oxidation of this dialkylhydrazine above the background level was observed. However, when phenolic substrates (4-tert-butylcatechol or N-acetyl-l-tyrosine) were included in the reaction mixture, procarbazine was rapidly degraded. Oxygen consumption measurements showed that in a mixture both the phenolic substrate and the drug were oxidized. The major product of procarbazine degradation was isolated and identified as azoprocarbazine, the first active metabolite of this drug detected in previous in vivo and in vitro studies. This indirect oxidation of the hydrazine group in this anticancer agent indicates possible application of a hydrazine linker in construction of tyrosinase-activated anti-melanoma prodrugs.

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Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Organic Chemistry
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