THE ENZYMATIC CONVERSION OF 13-HYDROPEROXYLINOLEIC ACID INTO 13-HYDROXY-12-OXOOCTADEC-9(Z)-ENOIC ACID AND 9-HYDROXY-12-OXOOCTADEC-10(E)-ENOIC ACID - ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE FOR AN ALLENE EPOXIDE INTERMEDIATE

Using synthetic [9,10,12,13-H-2(4)]linoleic acid as substrate it is shown that flax enzyme preparation forms [9,10,13-H-2(3)]-13-hydroxy-12-oxooctadec-9(Z)-enoic acid and [9,10,13-H-2(3)]-9-hydroxy-12-oxooctadec-10(E)-enoic acid with loss of the deuterium originally at C-12, thus demonstrating that an allene epoxide is involved as an intermediate and that transfer of deuterium from C-12 to C-11 does not occur.