Significance of binary and ternary copper(II) complexes for the promotion and protection of adenosine 5′-di- and triphosphate toward hydrolysis

The dephosphorylation of ADP and ATP was characterized as the first-order rate constant in dependence on pH in the absence and presence of Cu²⁺, and together with Cu²⁺ and a second ligand. The reaction is strongly accelerated by Cu²⁺ and passes through pH optima at about 6.2 and 6.5 for the Cu²⁺ ?ADP and ?ATP systems, respectively (I = 0.1, NaClO₄; 50°C). In the presence of 2,2′-bipyridyl (Bipy), ternary complexes are formed with the nucleotides ADP or ATP (NP), Cu(Bipy)(NP), which are very stable towards dephosphorylation over a large pH range. Similar stabilizing effects were observed in ternary complexes formed with imidazole or OH^?. These results can easily be rationalized by taking into account that in the binary Cu²⁺ complexes macrochelates are formed by the interaction between the adenine moiety and the metal ion. This interaction is crucial for obtaining the labile species and hence, in the mixed-ligand complexes, where the macrophelate can not be formed, the phosphates are protected toward hydrolysis. In agreement with these results is the dephosphorylation behavior of Cu(CDP)^? and Cu(CTP)^2?; they are rather stable. This is in accord with the small coordination tendency of the cytosine moiety.By computing the pH dependence of the distribution of the several species, it is shown that the active species are Cu(ATP)^2? and Cu(ADP)^? and not the hydroxy complexes, [Cu(ATP)(OH)]₂^6? and [Cu(ADP)(OH)₂^4? as were suggested earlier. With the aid of the initial rate, $\text{ν}{}_0\text{=}\text{d}\text{[}\text{PO}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{3?}}\text{]}\text{d}\text{t}$, the rate laws of the ascending side of the pH optima were determined: $\text{ν}{}_0\text{= k}\text{[}\text{Cu(NP)}\text{]}\text{[}\text{H}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{]}$. The descending side of the pH optima is attributed to the formation of Cu(NP)(OH), where the metal ion interaction with N-7 of the adenine moiety is inhibited.