The production of
-lactamases is an important component of bacterial resistance to
-lactamantibiotics. These enzymes catalyze the hydrolytic destruction of
-lactams. The class D serine
-lactamaseshave, in recent years, been expanding in sequence space and substrate spectrum under the challenge ofcurrently dispensed
-lactams. Further, the
-lactamase inhibitors now employed in medicine are notgenerally effective against class D enzymes. In this paper, we show that diaroyl phosphates are veryeffective inhibitory substrates of these enzymes. Reaction of the OXA-1
-lactamase, a typical class Denzyme, with diaroyl phosphates involves acylation of the active site with departure of an aroyl phosphateleaving group. The interaction of the latter with polar active-site residues is most likely responsible forthe general reactivity of these molecules with the enzyme. The rate of acylation of the OXA-1
-lactamaseby diaroyl phosphates is not greatly affected by the electronic effects of substituents, probably because ofcompensation phenomena, but is greatly enhanced by hydrophobic substituents; the second-order rateconstant for acylation of the OXA-1
-lactamase by bis(4-phenylbenzoyl) phosphate, for example, is 1.1× 10
7 s
-1 M
-1. This acylation reactivity correlates with the hydrophobic nature of the
-lactam side-chain binding site of class D
-lactamases. Deacylation of the enzyme is slow, e.g., 1.24 × 10
-3 s
-1 forthe above-mentioned phosphate and directly influenced by the electronic effects of substituents. The effectivesteady-state inhibition constants,
Ki, are nanomolar, e.g., 0.11 nM for the above-mentioned phosphate.The diaroyl phosphates, which have now been shown to be inhibitory substrates of all serine
-lactamases,represent an intriguing new platform for the design of
-lactamase inhibitors.