Solvent Effects on the Temperature Dependence of Hydride Kinetic Isotope Effects: Correlation to the Donor-Acceptor Distances

Protein structural effects on the temperature (T) dependence of kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in H-tunneling reactions have recently been used to discuss about the role of enzyme thermal motions in catalysis. Frequently observed nearly T-independent KIEs in the wild-type enzymes and T-dependent KIEs in variants suggest that H-tunneling in the former is assisted by the naturally evolved protein constructive vibrations that help sample short donor-acceptor distances (DADs) needed. This explanation that correlates the T-dependence of KIEs with DAD sampling has been highly debated as simulations following other H-tunneling models sometimes gave alternative explanations. In this paper, solvent effects on the T-dependence of KIEs of two hydride tunneling reactions of NADH/NA(+) analogues (represented by Delta E-a = E-aD - E-aH) were determined in attempts to replicate the observations in enzymes and test the protein vibration-assisted DAD sampling concept. Effects of selected aprotic solvents on the DAD(PRC)'s of the productive reactant complexes (PRCs) and the DAD(TRs's) of the activated tunneling ready states (TRSs) were obtained through computations and analyses of the kinetic data, including 2 degrees KIEs, respectively. A weaker T-dependence of KIEs (i.e., smaller Delta E-a) was found in a more polar aprotic solvent in which the system has a shorter average DAD(PRC) and DAD(TRS). Further results show that a charge-transfer (CT) complexation made of a stronger donor/acceptor gives rise to a smaller Delta E-a. Overall, the shorter and less broadly distributed DADs resulting from the stronger CT complexation vibrations give rise to a smaller Delta E-a. Our results appear to support the explanation that links the T-dependence of KIEs to the donor-acceptor rigidity in enzymes.