A. Ramanathan, Janine Kessi^*, T. G. Chasteen, and B. E. Arney

Department of Chemistry
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, Texas 77341-2117

^* University of Zürich, Institute of Plany Biology, Zürich, Switzerland

Presented at the 58^th ACS Southwest Regional Meeting in Austin, Texas USA November 3-6, 2002.

One of the functions of glutathione may be as a component of the defense system in our body to prevent toxicity of selenite and other toxic compounds that can be chemically reduced and eliminated. In its reaction with selenite, reduced glutathione (GSH) is oxidized to its oxidized form (GSSG) and selenite is reduced to its elemental form (Se⁰). In some system, when GSH is oxidized, some intermediates, such as GS-Se-SG are also formed, which are later converted to the oxidized form (GSSG) of GSH.

In this paper, the kinetics of the reaction of reduced glutathione (GSH) and selenite in various GSH:selenite concentration ratios, such as 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 and 4:1 will be discussed. UV/VIS and proton NMR spectrometry were used to measure the kinetics of the reaction. Intermediate forms were detected in the proton NMR spectrum but they could not be identified due to overlap with the oxidized form.