Comparative studies on the cumene hydroperoxide- and NADPH-supported N-oxidation of 4-chloroaniline by cytochrome P-450.

The present study confirms that cytochrome P-450 can act as a catalyst in the cumene hydroperoxide-supported N-oxidation of 4-chloroaniline. Analogous to the NADPH/O2-driven N-oxidation process, product dissociation is likely to limit the overall rate of cytochrome P-450 cycling also in the peroxidatic pathway. The oxy complexes involved in either metabolic route differ with respect to stability, spectral properties and need for thiolate-mediated resonance stabilization. With the organic hydroperoxide, the metabolic profile is shifted from the preponderant production of N-(4-chlorophenyl)hydroxylamine to the formation of 1-chloro-4-nitrobenzene. This finding suggests that the peroxide-sustained N-oxidation mechanism differs in several ways from that functional in the NADPH/O2-dependent oxenoid reaction. Thus one-electron oxidation, triggered by homolytic cleavage of the oxygen donor, is proposed as the mechanism of peroxidatic transformation of 4-chloroaniline.