The peroxidase/oxidase activity of soybean lipoxygenase--I. Triplet excited carbonyls from the reaction with isobutanal and the effect of glutathione.

Soybean lipoxygenase shows a secondary peroxidase/oxidase activity: The aerobic reaction with isobutanal, enhanced by hydrogen peroxide as a cosubstrate, yields acetone, exhibits chemiluminescence and consumes oxygen (phi cl = 1.3 x 10(-9) photons/O2 molecule consumed). 9,10-Dibromoanthracene-2-sulfonate increases the photoemission (kET tau 0 = 2 x 10(4) M-1; phi cl = 0.9 x 10(-7) photons/O2), whereas it is diminished by sorbate, tryptophan, 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide the lipoxygenase reaction with glutathione yields yet another excited state. From the well-known reactions promoted by horseradish-peroxidase, these features are concluded to indicate the novel activity of soybean lipoxygenase. With isobutanal as a substrate lipoxygenase acts as an oxidase and as a peroxidase. The mechanism suggested leads to photoemissive triplet excited acetone as expected from the cleavage of an intermediate dioxetane.