Zinc Complexes of Artificial Histidine-containing Dipeptides as Catalysts of Hydrolyses of p-Nitrophenyl Phosphates

Zinc complexes of histidine-containing peptide derived from N,Nʹ-dihistidylethylenediamine L1 and im-bzl-N,Nʹdihistidyldiethylenetriamine L2 were designed and examined as catalysts for hydrolyses of bis(p-nitrophenyl)phosphate (BNPP) and p-nitrophenyl phosphate (NPP). The zinc complex of L1 was inactive and another L2 complex hydrolyzed efficiently BNPP and NPP: their pseudo-first-order rate constants are 1.1 × 10^-5 s^-1 and 2.1 × 10^-5 s^-1, respectively.