Aflatoxins intermediate

The aflatoxin biosynthesis can be described in two major stages the early and later stages. The early stage aflatoxin intermediates are colored pigments (brick red, yellow, or orange in color), which covers from acetate to VERA. 

Norsolorinic acid (NOR) is the first stable aflatoxin intermediate in the pathway (8, 9). The predicted conversion product from PKS in the aflatoxin... 

In particular the synthetic approach to dihydrofurans (first equation in Figure 4.23) represents a useful alternative to other syntheses of these valuable intermediates, and has been used for the preparation of substituted pyrroles [1417], aflatoxin derivatives [1418], and other natural products [1419]. The reaction of vinylcarbene complexes with dienes can lead to the formation of cycloheptadienes by a formal [3 + 4] cycloaddition [1367] (Entries 9-12, Table 4.25). High asymmetric induction (up to 98% ee [1420]) can be attained using enantiomerically pure rhodium(II) carboxylates as catalysts. This observation suggests the reaction to proceed via divinylcyclopropanes, which undergo (concerted) Cope rearrangement to yield cycloheptadienes. 

The synthesis of the (i) 4-hydroxy-6-methoxytetrahydrofuro[2,3-6]-benzofuran ring (116), a degradation product of natural substances of the sterigmatocystin series, is similar,318 as is the synthesis of the dihydro derivative (117) from the o-acetylated acetaldehyde (118), a nonisolated intermediate which is ring-closed to 119 and then heated in toluene to give 117. The last is the starting point for the synthesis of aflatoxin M4 (49).153... 

Aliphatic Epoxidation. Many aliphatic and alicylcic compounds containing unsaturated carbon atoms are thought to be metabolized to epoxide intermediates (Figure 7.4). In the case of aldrin the product, dieldrin, is an extremely stable epoxide and represents the principle residue found in animals exposed to aldrin. Epoxide formation in the case of aflatoxin is believed to be the final step in formation of the ultimate carcinogenic species and is, therefore, an activation reaction. 

The toxification of benzo[a]pyrene and most other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to mutagenic intermediates by continuous cell lines has been reported dozens of times, whereas toxification of aflatoxin Bj to mutagenic intemediates in some cell lines does not occur.225 These data can be explained by the fact that the forms of P-450 necessary for polycyclic-hydrocarbon toxification remain in cultured primary and continuous cell lines, whereas the forms of P-450 responsible for the 2,3-oxide formation of aflatoxin Bj disappear rapidly in culture, for unknown reasons. Studies involving cultured human tissues may have this same major liability. The choice of cell culture for any particular compound therefore can be important. 

The key intermediate in the total synthesis of furaquinocin was obtained in good yield by a reductive Heck reaction that proceeded with a sterically hindered base pentamethylpiperidine (PMP) <02JA11616>. A new hypothesis for the major skeletal rearrangement (anthraquinone —> xanthone —> coumarin) that occurs in the complex biosynthesis of aflatoxin Bi was proposed. To test this hypothesis, an intermediate 11-hydroxy-O-methylstergmatocystin (HOMST) was synthesized as shown below. The key transformation in this synthesis involved the treatment of an ester-aldehyde with Pr3SiOTf, which smoothly produced a mixed acetal. Direct reduction with DIBAL-H led to the aldehyde. The desired product was eventually obtained via several steps as shown <02JA5294>. 

A number of chemicals with demonstrable suppression of immune function produce this action via indirect effects. By and large, the approach that has been most frequently used to support an indirect mechanism of action is to show immune suppression after in vivo exposure but no immune suppression after in vitro exposure to relevant concentrations. One of the most often cited mechanisms for an indirect action is centered around the limited metabolic capabilities of immunocompetent cells and tissues. A number of chemicals have caused immune suppression when administered to animals but were essentially devoid of any potency when added directly to suspensions of lymphocytes and macrophages. Many of these chemicals are capable of being metabolized to reactive metabolites, including dime-thylnitrosamine, aflatoxin Bi, and carbon tetrachloride. Interestingly, a similar profile of activity (i.e., suppression after in vivo exposure but no activity after in vitro exposure) has been demonstrated with the potent immunosuppressive drug cyclophosphamide. With the exception of the PAHs, few chemicals have been demonstrated to be metabolized when added directly to immunocompetent cells in culture. A primary role for a reactive intermediate in the immune suppression by dimethylnitrosamine, aflatoxin Bi, carbon tetrachloride, and cyclophosphamide has been confirmed in studies in which these xenobiotics were incubated with suspensions of immunocompetent cells in the presence of metabolic activation systems (MASs). Examples of MASs include primary hepatocytes, liver microsomes, and liver homogenates. In most cases, confirmation of a primary role for a reactive metabolite has been provided by in vivo studies in which the metabolic capability was either enhanced or suppressed by the administration of an enzyme inducer or a metabolic inhibitor, respectively. 

The use of this tricyclic intermediate (75) to prepare a pentacyclic substrate in the form of tetrahydrodeoxoaflatoxin Bj (2) was next communicated141,142. The condensation of phenol (75) with 2-carbethoxycyclopentanone (40) directly afforded (2), which was proven to be identical to the tetrahydrodeoxo compound prepared from natural aflatoxin Bj (1). 

The relationship of 13C acetate and averufin (i60)183 and very detailed 13C nuclear magnetic resonance enrichment studies of the abovementioned intermediates have recently led Steyn and co-workers184-187 to conclude187 that a biosynthetic pathway starting with polyketide (161), going through averufin (160), versicolorin A (162), and sterigmatocystin (30), eventually results in aflatoxin Bj (i). 

There is considerable indirect and direct evidence that the PKS responsible for the assembly of norsolorinic acid (NSA, 79), the first isolable intermediate in the pathway to the aflatoxins, is primed by a hexanoate starter and, indeed, as discussed above,feeding [l- Cjhexanoic acid to averufin-producing cultures of Aspergillus parasiticus was reported to give some intact incorporation. To study this further we developed a method for production of NSA (79) in shake cultures and fed [2-2H3]hexanoate (Scheme 21) to these cultures in the form of the free acid (76), the ethyl ester (77) and finally the NAC thioester (78) [67]. NMR... 

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