Abstract
NEILANDS1 has described the formation of coprohæm from iron and coproporphyrinogen in aqueous solution at physiological pH. Since uroporphyrinogen and coproporphyrinogen, rather than the porphyrins themselves, are now believed to be the true intermediates in the biosynthesis of hæm2 3, it would be tempting to postulate that protoporphyrinogen is the intermediate which reacts in vivo with iron to form protohæm. Further to test this hypothesis, we have incubated aqueous solutions of coproporphyrinogen, coproporphyrin and protoporphyrin with ferrous salts under various conditions and have estimated the hæm formed spectrophotometrically as the pyridine hæmochrome.
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HEIKEL, T., LOCKWOOD, W. & RIMINGTON, C. Formation of Non-Enzymic Hæm. Nature 182, 313 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/182313a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/182313a0
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