Sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate monohydrate (coenzyme M sodium salt monohydrate)

Abstract

The 2-thioethanesulfonate anion is the smallest known coenzyme in nature (HS–CoM) and plays a key role in methanogenesis by anaerobic archaea, as well as in the oxidation of alkenes by Gram-negative and Gram-positive eubacteria. The title compound, Na+·C2H5O3S2−·H2O, is the Na+ salt of HS–CoM crystallized as the monohydrate. Six O atoms form a distorted octahedral coordination geometry around the Na atom, at distances in the range 2.312 (4)–2.517 (3) Å. Two O atoms of the sulfonate group, one O atom of each of three other symmetry-related sulfonate groups plus the water O atom form the coordination environment of the Na+ ion. This arrangement forms Na–O–Na layers in the crystal structure, parallel to (100).