Isotope effect evidence for the zinc hydroxide mechanism of carbonic anhydrase catalysis.

The carbon kinetic isotope effect on the enzymatic dehydration of HCO3- ion is k12/k13 = 1.011 and is independent, within experimental error, of the addition of sucrose, substitution of D2O for H2O, and substitution of enzyme-bound Zn2+ by Co2+. These results are consistent with a ping-pong mechanism in which proton transfer between enzyme and solvent is separated from HCO3- dehydration. For the dehydration half-reaction, diffusional processes are severalfold faster than dehydration, and the rate-determining step is the dehydration itself. The intrinsic isotope effect is approximately 1.011, indicating that hydration of CO2 occurs by reaction of zinc-bound OH-, rather than zinc-bound H2O.