Biological reaction, alcohol reduction

The solution came, in part, by the application of biotransformations. These can be defined as biological processes that modify organic compounds via simple chemical reactions (oxidations, reductions) by means of enzymes contained in microbial, plant, or even animal cells. The aim is usually a one-step reaction to a recoverable product in a sequence of steps in which the majority of conversions are chemical steps (i.e., synthesis). In fermentation processes the whole sequence of reactions is carried out by microorganisms, be it a carbohydrate breakdown to alcohol (or other solvents), the production of antibiotics, or even enzymes. 

In many enzymatic reactions, and in particular biological reactions, a second substrate must be introduced to activate the enzyme. This substrate, which is referred to as a cofactor or coenzyme even though it is not an enzyme as such, attaches to the enzyme and is most often either reduced or oxidized during the course of the reaction. Many enzymatic reactions require coenzymes, especially to provide the oxidiz-ing/reducing equivalents for oxidations/reductions. An example of the type of system in which a cofactor is used is the formation of ethanol from acetaldehyde in the presence of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and the cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) ... 

The aldehyde intermediate can be isolated if 1 equivalent of diisobutvl-aluminum hydride (D1BAH) is used as the reducing agent instead of LiAlH4. The reaction has to be carried out at -78 °C to avoid further reduction to the alcohol. Such partial reductions of carboxylic acid derivatives to aldehydes also occur in numerous biological pathways, although the substrate is either a thioester or acyl phosphate rather than an ester. 

Formally, in redox reactions there is transfer of electrons from a donor (the reductant) to the acceptor (the oxidant), forming a redox couple or pair. Oxidations in biological systems are often reactions in which hydrogen is removed from a compound or in which oxygen is added to a compound. An example is the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and then to acetic acid where the oxidant is NAD. catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, respectively. 

A typical second step after the insertion of CO into aryl or alkenyl-Pd(II) compounds is the addition to alkenes [148]. However, allenes can also be used (as shown in the following examples) where a it-allyl-r 3-Pd-complex is formed as an intermediate which undergoes a nucleophilic substitution. Thus, Alper and coworkers [148], as well as Grigg and coworkers [149], described a Pd-catalyzed transformation of o-iodophenols and o-iodoanilines with allenes in the presence of CO. Reaction of 6/1-310 or 6/1-311 with 6/1-312 in the presence of Pd° under a CO atmosphere (1 atm) led to the chromanones 6/1-314 and quinolones 6/1-315, respectively, via the Jt-allyl-r 3-Pd-complex 6/1-313 (Scheme 6/1.82). The enones obtained can be transformed by a Michael addition with amines, followed by reduction to give y-amino alcohols. Quinolones and chromanones are of interest due to their pronounced biological activity as antibacterials [150], antifungals [151] and neurotrophic factors [152]. 

NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is utilized in biological reductions to deliver hydride to an aldehyde or ketone carbonyl group (see Box 7.6). A proton from water is used to complete the process, and the product is thus an alcohol. The reaction is catalysed by an enzyme called a dehydrogenase. The reverse reaction may also be catalysed by the enzyme, namely the oxidation of an alcohol to an aldehyde or ketone. It is this reverse reaction that provides the dehydrogenase nomenclature. 

The use of ester-cleaving enzymes is probably going to be one of the most useful biological-chemical methods in the synthetic laboratory. No example of this type of reaction has hitherto been published in the Organic Syntheses series of procedures. So far, the only biological-chemical Organic Synfheses-procedures are two yeast reductions,4 5 one oxidation with horse-liver-alcohol-dehydrogenase,6 and a disaccharide synthesis catalyzed by emulsin.7 The procedure described here is... 

Figure 3-23. Representation of the hydride transfer reaction involved in the biological reduction of aldehydes to alcohols.

In these compounds, there is a marked relationship between molecular geometry and biological activity. From values reported in the literature and according to our own studies, the E isomers, in which the residue originating from the aldehyde is in the transposition to the triazole, are markedly superior to the Z isomers in their biological activity. By suitable control of the reaction conditions, it is possible to achieve an almost complete isomerization to the unsaturated E-triazolylketones. Subsequent reduction leads to the more active E-alcohols. This group of N-vinylazoles includes the triazole derivative S 3308 (Sumitomo), currently under development as... 

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