Competitive hydrolytic and elimination mechanisms in the urease catalyzed decomposition of urea

We present a high-level quantum chemical study of possible elimination reaction mechanisms associated with the catalytic decomposition of urea at the binuclear nickel active site cluster of urease. Stable intermediates and transition state structures have been identified along several possible reaction pathways. The computed results are compared with those reported by Suarez et al. for the hydrolytic catalyzed decomposition. On the basis of these comparative studies, we propose a monodentate coordination of urea in the active site from which both the elimination and hydrolytic pathways can decompose urea into CO2 and NH3. This observation is counter to what has been experimentally suggested based on the exogenous observation of carbamic acid (the reaction product from the hydrolysis pathway). However, this does not address what has occurred at the active site of urease prior to product release. On the basis of our computed results, the observation that urea prefers the elimination channel in aqueous solution and on the observation of Lippard and co-workers of an elimination reaction channel in a urease biomimetic model, we propose that the elimination channel needs to be re-examined as a viable reaction channel in urease.