Chemical models and their mechanistic implications for the transformation of 6-cyanouridine 5′-monophosphate catalyzed by orotidine 5′-monophosphate decarboxylaseA part of the work has been presented as a poster in the Joint Symposium of the 18th International Roundtable on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids and the 35th International Symposium on Nucleic Acids Chemistry, Sep. 8-12, 2008, Kyoto, Japan.11

The reactions of 6-cyano-1,3-dimethyluracil have been studied as chemical models to illustrate the mechanism for the transformation of 6-cyanouridine 5′-monophosphate (6-CN-UMP) to barbiturate ribonucleoside 5′-monophosphate (BMP) catalyzed by orotidine 5′-monophosphate decarboxylase (ODCase). The results suggest that the Asp residue in the ODCase active site plays the role of a general base in the transformation. The reactions of 6-cyano-1,3-dimethyluracil under various nucleophilic conditions have been studied as chemical models to investigate the role of the Asp residue in the OMP decarboxylase (ODCase) active site.