Buffer catalysis of the racemization reaction of some 5-phenylhydantoins and its relation to the in vivo metabolism of ethotoin.

Evidence is presented to show that an optical isomer of 5-phenylhydantoin is subject to racemization (interconversion) in different buffer systems. With phosphate buffers in the pH range of 6.0-7.5, it appears that the buffer-catalyzed racemization reaction is due solely to catalysis by divalent phosphate (general base catalysis). Other buffers studied include arsenate, imidazole, triethanolamine, and pyrophosphate. When 5-phenylhydantoin, the N-de-ethylated metabolite of ethotoin, was administered to dogs in an earlier investigation, the observation was made that somewhat more than the theoretical quantity (50 mole percent of the dose) of the substances recovered from urine had the R-configuration. The principal metabolite was (R)-(-)-2-phenylhydantoic acid, formed stereo-specifically in a ring-opening reaction of (R)-5-phyenylhydantoin by dihydropyrimidinase (EC 3.5.2.2). The results of the present in vitro study support the hypothesis that in vivo the interconversion of the optical isomers of 5-phenylhydantoin can be catalyzed by buffering components of the mammalian physiological system, and that the catalytic activities of the endogenous buffer components can account for the racemization and ultimate metabolism of the (S)-isomer of 5-phenylhydantoin by dihydropyrimidinase.