Reduction of a Bilindione-10-Thiol-Adduct as a Model of the Reduction Step of the Biliverdin Reductase System

Article abstract of DOI:10.1007/BF00810832

Biliverdin dimethyl ester and its 10-thioethanol addition product are reduced by LiBH4 with similar reaction velocities as derived from NMR experiments.This reaction serves as a model of the biliverdin reductase system.According to this model the addition of the enzyme thiol group to position 10 of biliverdin primarily serves as the binding and orienting mode.It is obviously not intended as such to accelerate the velocity of the reduction step.