O-Phosphoryl serine derivative can perform self-catalytic esterification reaction in the mixture of CH3OH and CHCl3 at the room temperature. The phosphoryl group participation was the key step of the esterification. This type of reactions were proposed through an intermediate of mixed phosphoric-carboxylic anhydride that might provide a clue to the function of the phosphoryl group in the phosphorylated enzymes and in the prebiotic synthesis of protein.
Hydroxylation of 3-nitrotyrosine （3-NT） and 3-NT containing peptide Gly-nitroTyr-Gly in aqueous solution by hydroxyl radical were investigated with gamma irradiation. The structures of the hydroxylated products were confirmed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and ^1H NMR spectrometry. The reactivity of 3-nitrotyrosine has been investigated using density functional theory （DFT） calculation.
The cationized 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) protected amino acids were analyzed by the electros-pray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). A rearrangement reaction leading to the C-terminal hydroxyl group transfer was observed. The sodium adducts of Fmoc-OH was formed. A possible rearrangement mechanism was proposed. The rearrangement reaction depended on the Fmoc group, metal ions and metal ion radius. It was shown that the Fmoc group has a strong affinity to the hydroxyl group in the gas phase.
DU Jintang, LI Yanmei, ZHU Zhentai, CHEN Yi & ZHAO Yufen Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry, Department of Chem-istry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Correspondence should be addressed to Li Yanmei (e-mail: liym@mail. tsinghua.edu.cn)
