Enzymatic synthesis and isolation of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate.

2,3-Diphosphoglycerate was first isolated from red cells and identified by Greenwald (1). Greenwald’s procedure and modifications of it (2, 3) have been commonly used for isolation of this material, although the chemical synthesis has also been reported (4). Both the isolation procedure and the chemical synthesis are time consuming and do not lend themselves to the preparation of large quantities of this material. We have previously reported on the separation of 2,3-DPGAl and 3-PGA on Dowex columns and on the high activity for the biosynthesis of 2,3-DPGA shown by extracts of chicken breast muscle-acetone powders (5). These observations form the basis for a simple method presented here which permits the isolation of large quantities of 2,3-DPGA with little effort.