Comparisons of diisopropylfluorophosphate derivatives of chymotrypsin and chymotrypsinogen by phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance

The nature of the differences in the active sites of α-chymotrypsin and chymotrypsinogen has been investigated by phosphorus-31 NMR studies of their diisopropylfluorophosphate derivatives. The phosphorus-31 resonance of the modified zymogen occurs 2 ppm upfield from that for the enzyme. An even greater separation is seen between diisopropylphosphoryl-neo-chymotrypsinogen and -α-chymotrypsin. A plausible interpretation of the chemical shift differences is based on the known structures for α-chymotrypsin, chymotrypsinogen and diisopropylphosphoryl-trypsin.