HLTH340 Study Guide - Lone Pair, Electrophile, Glutathione

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Health Studies
• Course: HLTH340
• Professor: Steve Mc Coll

Document Summary

Topic 12: toxicodynamic mechanisms - protein targets/interference with protein. electrophilic) or you are electron-rich already and so you do not seek out electrons (i. e. nucleophilic because you are seeking an electron-deficient nucleus which you can join with) Electrophiles generally have a localized partial positive charge, and so by the laws of attraction they are attracted towards electron-rich groups. Conversely, nucleophiles have these electron-rich regions, and so they are an attractive target for electrophiles. Thus while we say that acetominophen is a relatively safe drug, it is also sometimes dangerous: also acyl dienes, haloalkyls, etc. we will discuss later. Discuss some nucleophiles which are of interest to us: many macromolecules and biomolecules are nucleophilic, and thus vulnerable to attack from the electrophiles. These things include the nucleotide bases in dna. And also the --sh (thiol) groups in amino acids such as cysteine. One result is alkylation: the addition of small methyl or ethyl groups. Notably, this alters function but not structure.