Computational modeling of the kinetics and mechanism of tellurium-based glutathione peroxidase mimic

A new generation of glutathione peroxidase enzyme mimic based on organotellurium was introduced. The catalytic cycles of these mimics, tellura and tellenol, were clarified by density functional theory and solvent-assisted proton exchange procedure as an indirect proton exchange chain. From the kinetic viewpoint, the oxidation of tellura (Delta G(not equal) = 23.55 kcal mol(-1)) was considered as the rate-determining step using a single-step process. Various behaviors of tellenol were examined in the reduction of tellurenylsulfide based on methanethiol nucleophilicity. On the basis of the turnover frequency calculations, during the catalytic cycles of tellura and tellenol, the rate of the catalytic cycle of tellura is faster than that of tellenol. A decrease in the electron density and an increase in the Laplacian from the reactant to the transition states are evidence of the bond rupture, whereas an opposite change is evidence of the bond formation. Finally, different analyses of the electron location function and localized orbital locator within the quantum theory of atoms in molecules were applied and discussed. The covalent nature of the intramolecular interactions suggests that the TeMIDLINE HORIZONTAL ELLIPSISN interaction is stronger than that of TeMIDLINE HORIZONTAL ELLIPSISH. Finally, based on different analyses, tellura can be considered the more reactive GPx mimic than tellenol.