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10.12: Redox Reactions of Thiols and Disulfides

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    A disulfide bond is a sulfur-sulfur bond, usually formed from two free thiol groups.

    The reduced form is two thiols (dithiol). The oxidized form is disulfide.

    The interconversion between dithiol and disulfide groups is a redox reaction: the free dithiol form is in the reduced state, and the disulfide form is in the oxidized state. Notice that in the oxidized (disulfide) state, each sulfur atom has lost a bond to hydrogen and gained a bond to sulfur.

    As you should recall from your Biology courses, disulfide bonds between cysteine residues are an integral component of the three-dimensional structure of many extracellular proteins and signaling peptides.

    In the reduced protein, there are free cysteines. In the oxidized protein there is a disulfide bridge.

    A thiol-containing coenzyme called glutathione is integrally involved in many thiol-disulfide redox processes (recall that glutathione was a main player in this chapter's introductory story about concussion research). In its reduced (thiol) form, glutathione is abbreviated 'GSH'. In its oxidized form, glutathione exists as a dimer of two molecules linked by a disulfide group, and is abbreviated 'GSSG'.

    Bond line drawings of glutathione (GSH) which is the reduced state and glutathione dimer (GSSG) with is the oxidized state.

    Disulfide bonds and free thiol groups in both proteins and smaller organic molecules like glutathione can 'trade places' through a disulfide exchange reaction. This process is essentially a combination of two direct displacement (\(S_N2\)-like) events, with sulfur atoms acting as nucleophile, electrophile and leaving group.

    Disulfide exchange reaction

    clipboard_ef6e84efcba3ebd1b5d10ec19740b99e8.png

    Mechanism:

    clipboard_ea3a8602166fd24b02896f7640b6cd01c.png

    In eukaryotes, the cysteine side chains of intracellular (inside the cell) proteins are almost always in the free thiol (reduced) state due to the high concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) in the intracellular environment. A disulfide bond in an intracellular protein will be rapidly reduced in a disulfide exchange reaction with excess glutathione.

    clipboard_ed721567a4008f0f89dda3c9d9b82dcbe.png

    The interconversion of free thiols and disulfides is also mediated by flavin in some enzymes.

    Flavin-mediated reduction of a protein disulfide bond

    FADH2 is one of the reactants and FAD is one of the products.

    Flavin-mediated oxidation of a protein disulfide bond

    FAD is one of the reactants and FADH2 is one of the products.

    As was stated earlier, a high intracellular concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) serves to maintain proteins in the free thiol (reduced) state. An enzyme called glutathione reductase catalyzes the reduction of GSSG in a flavin-mediated process, with \(NADH\) acting as the ultimate hydride donor.

    Gluthione reductase reaction:

    Gluthione reacts with NADPH, H plus and FADH2 to produce NADP plus and two molecules of reduced glutathione.

    This figure shows oxidized glutathione converted to reduced glutathione by NADPH.

    The mechanism for this and other similar reactions is not yet completely understood, but evidence points to an initial thiol-disulfide exchange reaction with a pair of cysteines from the enzyme, (phase 1 below) followed by flavin-dependent reduction of the cysteine-cysteine disulfide (phase 2). Finally, (phase 3) \(FAD\) is reduced back to \(FADH_2\) by \(NADH\). Frey and Hegeman, Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms, p. 699

    Phase 1: thiol-disulfide exchange (see earlier figure for mechanism):

    The reactant is a reduced enzyme and the products is an oxidized enzyme.

    Phase 2: Reduction of protein disulfide by \(FADH_2\) (see earlier figure for mechanism)

    clipboard_e12b35b3674dcd8aa990af7adc642987d.png

    Phase 3: regeneration of \(FADH_2\) by \(NADH\) (see section 15.4B for mechanism)

    FAD reacts with NADPH and H plus to produce NADP plus and FDAH2.

    In the biochemistry lab, proteins are often maintained in their reduced (free thiol) state by incubation in buffer containing an excess concentration of \(\beta\)-mercaptoethanol (BME) or dithiothreitol (DTT). These reducing agents function in a manner similar to that of GSH, except that DTT, because it has two thiol groups, can form an intramolecular disulfide in its oxidized form.

    Bond line drawings of b-mercaptoethanol (BME) and dithiothreitol (DTT).

    Exercise 15.7.1

    Draw structures of the oxidized (disulfide) forms of BME and DTT.

    This page titled 10.12: Redox Reactions of Thiols and Disulfides is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Tim Soderberg via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.