Cobamide is a naturally occurring chemical compound containing
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...
in the
corrinoid
Corrinoids are a group of compounds based on the skeleton of corrin, a cyclic system containing four pyrrole rings similar to porphyrins. These include compounds based on octadehydrocorrin, which has the trivial name corrole.
The cobalamins ( vi ...
family of
macrocyclic
Macrocycles are often described as molecules and ions containing a ring of twelve or more atoms. Classical examples include the crown ethers, calixarenes, porphyrins, and cyclodextrins. Macrocycles describe a large, mature area of chemistry.
...
complexes. Cobamide works as a
coenzyme
A cofactor is a non-protein chemical compound or metallic ion that is required for an enzyme's role as a catalyst (a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction). Cofactors can be considered "helper molecules" that ass ...
with some enzymes in bacteria. The cobalt atom may have a transferable methyl group attached. It is used for example in
5-methyltetrahydrosarcinapterin:corrinoid/iron-sulfur protein Co-methyltransferase.
References
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Organocobalt compounds
Corrinoids
Coenzymes