Hemoglobin peroxidase reaction of hemoglobin efficiently catalyzes oxidation of benzo[a]pyrene

Its high molecular weight endows benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) with strong adsorption to soil, causing serious soil contamination. Our previous study has reported that hemoglobin (Hb) is able to oxidize organic pollutants in the presence of H₂O₂. This present study showed that Hb catalytic mechanism for BaP oxidation was similar to that of lignin peroxidase. 2-Methyl-3-vinylmaleimide was confirmed as a major degradation intermediate of BaP by Hb catalysis. In addition, BaP was shown to be degraded by heme (Hm)-catalyzed reaction, suggesting that Hm of Hb is the essential catalytic center. Rate constants (k) for BaP oxidation by Hm-catalyzed reaction were 0.4954 h⁻¹. The major degradation intermediate by Hm-catalyzed reaction is 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbiphenyl. While values of K_m and V_max of Hb and Hm are very similar, k_cat values was 100 times higher with Hb than with Hm. But k_cat value for Hb was much lower than that for lignin peroxidase H2. All the results above suggested that Hb-catalyzed reactions efficiently degrade BaP in aqueous condition. Thus, we suggest that Hb for oxygen carrier in blood could be employed as a biocatalyst (i.e., hemoglobin peroxidase) for BaP degradation in the environment, due to the high availability of Hb.