Chemical repair of protein carbon-centred radicals: long-distance dynamic factors

The thermodynamic and kinetic study of the repair reactions of three damaged aliphatic amino acids (alanine, valine, and leucine) with dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) in a polar and a nonpolar solvent is presented in this work. Two simplified protein models were explored in the most common conformations (alpha helix and beta sheet). Calculations are performed at the M06-2X-SMD/6-31++G(d, p) level of theory. DHLA has shown to be an excellent antioxidant repair agent through hydrogen-transfer reaction involving the thiol groups, with rate constants close to diffusion control in most cases. The stability of the initial protein radical is not the most important factor determining the rate of the repair reaction because stabilizing intermolecular interactions involving the protein and the antioxidant can provide additional stability to some transition states accelerating the repair of sites that would otherwise not be so quickly repaired.