ESI-MS in the study of the activity of α-chymotrypsin in aqueous surfactant media

The catalytic activity of α-chymotrypsin on a model and a peptide substrate, in the supramolecular system “enzyme–surfactant” in water solution, has been studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Hydrolysis of N-succinyl-L-phenylalanine p-nitroanilide as the model compound, catalysed by α-chymotrypsin in the presence of monomeric cetyltributylammonium bromide, has been followed by UV and ESI-MS detection. Kinetic data, which are essentially identical independent of their determination techniques, show a twelve fold improvement of the enzyme catalytic efficiency when compared with the reaction carried out in the absence of the additive. Once validated, the ESI-MS technique was used to study the hydrolytic activity of the enzyme on a peptide substrate like substance P; it is worth emphasising that the spectrophotometric detection cannot be employed on peptides, where the chromophores are untouched by the hydrolytic process. Substance P hydrolyses in aqueous surfactant following dichotomic kinetics, which are initially rapid but then slow down as the reaction progress. The results presented in this paper are expected to extend studies on biocatalysis in aqueous surfactant media to a wide range of substrates, independent of their spectroscopic properties.