Destruction of cytochrome P-450 by vinyl fluoride, fluroxene, and acetylene. Evidence for a radical intermediate in olefin oxidation.

Vinyl fluoride, vinyl bromide, fluroxene (2,2,2-trifluoroethyl vinyl ether), and acetylene alkylate the prosthetic heme group of cytochrome P-450 enzymes which catalyze their metabolism. The alkylated heme moiety has been identified in all four cases, after carboxyl group methylation and demetalation, as the dimethyl easier of N-(2-oxoethyl)protoporphyrin IX. The dimethyl acetal derivative of the aldehyde group in this structure is also isolated. The formation of the same prosthetic heme adduct with the four substrates requires introduction of an oxygen at the trifluoroethoxy or halide-substituted terminus of the pi bond and reaction of the unsubstituted terminus with a heme nitrogen atom. This reaction orientation is consistent with a radical intermediate, possibly formed by way of an initial pi-bond radical cation, but is difficult to reconcile with a cationic intermediate. The occurrence of a radical intermediate in the oxidation of olefins by cytochrome P-450 is thus suggested.