From Thiol to Sulfonic Acid: Modeling the Oxidation Pathway of Protein Thiols by Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is a natural oxidant that can oxidize protein thiols (RSH) via sulfenic acid (RSOH) and sulfinic acid (RSO2H) to sulfonic acid (RSO3H). In this paper, we study the complete anionic and neutral oxidation pathway from thiol to sulfonic acid. Reaction barriers and reaction free energies for all three oxidation steps are computed, both for the isolated substrates and for the substrates in the presence of different model ligands (CH4, H2O, NH3) mimicking the enzymatic environment. We found for all three barriers that the anionic thiolate is more reactive than the neutral thiol. However, the assistance of the environment in the neutral pathway in a solvent-assisted proton-exchange (SAFE) mechanism can lower the reaction barrier noticeably. Polar ligands can decrease the reaction barriers, whereas apolar ligands do not influence the barrier heights. The same holds for the reaction energies: they decrease (become more negative) in the presence of polar ligands whereas apolar ligands do not have an influence. The consistently negative consecutive reaction energies for the oxidation in the anionic pathway when going from thiolate over sulfenic and sulfinic acid to sulfonic acid are in agreement with biological reversibility.