Abstract
CERTAIN tetradentate organo-cobalt complexes have physical and chemical properties which resemble those of vitamin B12 (ref. 1). We have investigated whether the water-soluble complexes based on bis-(diacetylmonoximeimino)-1,3-propane—abbreviated (DOH)2propane (Fig. 1)—will also mimic some of the biological properties of vitamin B12, particularly the promotion of growth in bacteria and the catalytic function of the vitamin as a coenzyme. A vitamin B12-dependent strain of Lactobacillus leichmanii was used to assay the growth stimulating properties of the (DOH)2propane compounds, with or without added vitamin B12. The growth of L. leichmanii was only irregularly stimulated when the synthetic compounds were added to the medium alone, but in the presence of catalytic amounts of vitamin B12 a constant stimulation was found (Fig. 2). Each compound is active in a narrow range of concentrations, with a characteristic optimum. In the series of cobalt–aquo complexes, for example, the values are 0.07 mM for the benzyl derivative, 0.4 mM for n-propyl and phenyl derivatives, 0.7 mM for methyl and ethyl derivatives (Fig. 2a).
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STAGNI, N., DE BERNARD, B., COSTA, G. et al. Biological Properties of Model Molecules for Vitamin B12. Nature 225, 942–943 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/225942a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/225942a0
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