SUBSTRATE ATTENUATION - AN APPROACH TO IMPROVE ANTIBODY CATALYSIS

Antibodies raised to quinaldine phosphonamide 1a showed no ability to hydrolyze its most homologous substrates amide and ester 2 and 3, respectively. However, within this same set of antibodies some thirteen showed a great propensity to hydrolyse a structurally similar naphthyl ester In addition to heteroatom discrimination one of the antibodies examined in detail displayed an increase in catalytic efficiency presumably via weak apparent binding (k(m)) when phenylesters were employed as substrates. These findings suggest abzyme catalysis may be improved via substrate attenuation.