POTENTIAL ATPASE MIMICS BY POLYAMMONIUM MACROCYCLES - CRITERIA FOR CATALYTIC ACTIVITY

A series of polyammonium macrocycles, ranging in size from the 18-membered ring [18]aneN6 to the 36-membered [36]aneN12 were examined as potential ATPase mimics. The rates of hydrolysis of ATP were followed at pH 3.0 and 7.0 using 31P NMR and HPLC techniques. Stability constants as a function of degree of protonation, distribution curves for the ligands as a function of pH, and distribution curves for the mixed species of nucleotides, inorganic phosphate, and macrocycle were also determined. All of the macrocycles catalyzed the hydrolysis of ATP to some extent compared to noncatalyzed hydrolysis. A critical dependence on macrocyclic ring size was observed, with [21]aneN7 being the best catalyst at both pHs. Stability constants of the complexes formed between the phosphate species and macrocycle increase with increasing degree of protonation and decreasing ring size. The trend in stability constants for phosphate species was found to be PO43- > P2O74- > ATP4- > ADP3- > AMP2- for a given degree of protonation. The crystal structure of tetraprotonated [21]aneN7 was determined. The compound N7C14Cl4H41O crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21 (#4) with unit cell dimensions a = 7.472(1), b = 19.480(2), c = 8.3638(9) A ̊, β = 100.38(1)o, and V = 1197.4(3) A ̊3. The structure was solved by direct methods and refined using full-matrix least-squares techniques to give a final R = 0.041 and Rw = 0.055. © 1992.