Molecular structural characteristics governing biocatalytic chlorination of PAHs by chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago.

Based on some fundamental quantum chemical descriptors computed by PM3 Hamiltonian, a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) for specific activity of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of biocatalytic chlorination by chloroperoxidase (CPO) from Caldariomyces fumago was developed using partial least squares (PLS) regression. The model can be used to estimate biocatalytic chlorination reaction rates of PAHs. The main factors affecting specific activity of PAHs of biocatalytic chlorination by CPO from Caldariomyces fumago are absolute hardness, dipole moment, absolute electronegativity, and molecular bulkness of the PAH molecules. The biocatalytic chlorination reaction rates of PAHs with large values of absolute hardness, absolute electronegativity, and molecular bulkness tend to be slow. Increasing dipole moment of PAHs leads to increase the specific activity.