Carbonic acid synthesis

In the chloride shift, Ck plays an important role in the transport of carbon dioxide (qv). In the plasma, CO2 is present as HCO, produced in the erythrocytes from CO2. The diffusion of HCO requires the counterdiffusion of another anion to maintain electrical neutraUty. This function is performed by Ck which readily diffuses into and out of the erythrocytes (see Fig. 5). The carbonic anhydrase-mediated Ck—HCO exchange is also important for cellular de novo fatty acid synthesis and myelination in the brain (62). 

FIGURE 25.1 The citrate-malate-pyruvate shuttle provides cytosolic acetate units and reducing equivalents (electrons) for fatty acid synthesis. The shuttle collects carbon substrates, primarily from glycolysis but also from fatty acid oxidation and amino acid catabolism. Most of the reducing equivalents are glycolytic in origin. Pathways that provide carbon for fatty acid synthesis are shown in blue pathways that supply electrons for fatty acid synthesis are shown in red. 

FIGURE 25.2 (a) The acetyl-CoA carboxylase reaction produces malonyl-CoA for fatty acid synthesis, (b) A mechanism for the acetyl-CoA carboxylase reaction. Bicarbonate is activated for carboxylation reactions by formation of N-carboxybiotin. ATP drives the reaction forward, with transient formation of a carbonylphosphate intermediate (Step 1). In a typical biotin-dependent reaction, nncleophilic attack by the acetyl-CoA carbanion on the carboxyl carbon of N-carboxybiotin—a transcarboxylation—yields the carboxylated product (Step 2). 

In summary, the Bucherer-Bergs reaction converts aldehydes or ketones to the corresponding hydantoins. It is often carried out by treating the carbonyl compounds with potassium cyanide and ammonium carbonate in 50% aqueous ethanol. The resulting hydantoins, often of pharmacological importance, may also serve as the intermediates for amino acid synthesis. 

Strategy The malonic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a carboxylic acid having two more carbons. Thus, a seven-carbon acid chain must be derived from the five-carbon alkyl halide 1-bromopentane. 

Carbonic acid amides are known for their good surface-active properties. In particular, alkanolamides are produced on a large scale. But relatively little is known about the synthesis of alkanephosphonic acid amides. Therefore surface-active properties and different ways of synthesizing alkanephosphonic acid bisdialkylamides were investigated [121]. There are three ways to obtain these derivatives ... 

Carnivores rely on a protein-rich diet and produce new biomass primarily from dietary amino acids, although the enzymes required for de novo amino acid synthesis are present (Garmes et al., 1998). Bone collagen, muscle (meat) and apatite were analyzed for a set of modern southern African herbivores and carnivores (Lee-Thorp et al., 1989). The isotopic analyses showed i C enrichment in bone collagen, apatite and muscle, and depletion in lipids. Difference in values between herbivores and carnivores indicates a trophic effect, which for carbon in bone collagen is 2.5-3%o (Fig. 2). 

Thus unsubstituted (R=H) and substituted (R = alkyl) non-stabilized diyiides 1 react with phenylisocyanate and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (R NCX), leading to the formation of new monoylide type intermediates. These last ones react in situ with carbonyl compounds through a Wittig type reaction leading respectively to a,)8-unsaturated amides 2 and amidines 3, with a high E stereoselectivity, the double bond being di- or tri-substituted [48,49]. By a similar reactional pathway, diyiides also react with carbonic acid derivatives, with the synthesis as final products of -a,/l-unsaturated esters 4 and acids 5 [50]. 

Citrate is isomerized to isocitrate by the enzyme aconitase (aconitate hydratase) the reaction occurs in two steps dehydration to r-aconitate, some of which remains bound to the enzyme and rehydration to isocitrate. Although citrate is a symmetric molecule, aconitase reacts with citrate asymmetrically, so that the two carbon atoms that are lost in subsequent reactions of the cycle are not those that were added from acetyl-CoA. This asymmetric behavior is due to channeling— transfer of the product of citrate synthase directly onto the active site of aconitase without entering free solution. This provides integration of citric acid cycle activity and the provision of citrate in the cytosol as a source of acetyl-CoA for fatty acid synthesis. The poison fluo-roacetate is toxic because fluoroacetyl-CoA condenses with oxaloacetate to form fluorocitrate, which inhibits aconitase, causing citrate to accumulate. 

The citric acid cycle is not only a pathway for oxidation of two-carbon units—it is also a major pathway for interconversion of metabolites arising from transamination and deamination of amino acids. It also provides the substtates for amino acid synthesis by transamination, as well as for gluconeogenesis and fatty acid synthesis. Because it fimctions in both oxidative and synthetic processes, it is amphibolic (Figure 16—4). 

The citric acid cycle is amphibolic, since in addition to oxidation it is important in the provision of carbon skeletons for gluconeogenesis, fatty acid synthesis, and interconversion of amino acids. 

Ribulose 5-phosphate is the substrate for two enzymes. Ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase alters the configuration about carbon 3, forming another ketopentose, xylulose 5-phosphate. Ribose 5-phosphate ketoisom-erase converts ribulose 5-phosphate to the corresponding aldopentose, ribose 5-phosphate, which is the precursor of the ribose required for nucleotide and nucleic acid synthesis. Transketolase transfers the two-carbon... 

Some examples of alkylation reactions involving relatively acidic carbon acids are shown in Scheme 1.3. Entries 1 to 4 are typical examples using sodium ethoxide as the base. Entry 5 is similar, but employs sodium hydride as the base. The synthesis of diethyl cyclobutanedicarboxylate in Entry 6 illustrates ring formation by intramolecular alkylation reactions. Additional examples of intramolecular alkylation are considered in Section 1.2.5. Note also the stereoselectivity in Entry 7, where the existing branched substituent leads to a trans orientation of the methyl group. 

Folates carry one-carbon groups in transfer reactions required for purine and thymidylic acid synthesis. Dihydrofolate reductase is the enzyme responsible for supplying reduced folates intracellularly for thymidylate and purine synthesis. 

The only practical methods for the preparation of vinylacet.ic acid involve hydrolysis of allyl cyanide 6 carbonation of allylmag-nesium bromide 8 or the malonic acid synthesis.9... 

There is considerable interest in synthesizing copolymers. This is actually possible if organisms are confronted with mixtures of so-called related and unrelated substrates. Copolymers can also be synthesized from unrelated substrates, e.g., from glucose and gluconate. The 3-hydroxydecanoate involved in the polyester is formed by diversion of intermediates from de novo fatty-acid synthesis [41,42]. Related , in this context, refers to substrates for which the monomer in the polymer is always of equal carbon chain length to that of the substrate offered. Starting from related substrates, the synthesis pathway is closely connected to the fatty-acid /1-oxidation cycle [43]. In Pseudomonas oleovor-ans, for example, cultivated on octane, octanol, or octanoic acid, the synthesized medium chain length polyester consists of a major fraction of 3-hydroxyoc-tanoic acid and a minor fraction of 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid. If P. oleovorans is cultivated on nonane, nonanol, or nonanoic acid, the accumulated polyester comprises mainly of 3-hydroxynonanoate [44]. 

Carbon. The Synthesis and Oxidation of Serveral Three Carbon Acids. 

Once fatty acids have been made 16 carbons long, they can be lengthened by adding 2 carbon atoms at a time with malonyl-CoA in a reaction that looks a lot like the first step of fatty acid synthesis. However, the elongation reaction is carried out on the fatty acyl-CoA and by an enzyme that is different from fatty acid synthase.4 ... 

Biotin is a growth factor for many bacteria, protozoa, plants, and probably all higher animals. In the absence of biotin, oxalacetate decarboxylation, oxalosuccinate carboxylation, a-ketoglutarate decarboxylation, malate decarboxylation, acetoacetate synthesis, citrulline synthesis, and purine and pyrimidine syntheses, are greatly depressed or absent in cells (Mil, Tl). All of these reactions require either the removal or fixation of carbon dioxide. Together with coenzyme A, biotin participates in carboxylations such as those in fatty acid and sterol syntheses. Active C02 is thought to be a carbonic acid derivative of biotin involved in these carboxylations (L10, W10). Biotin has also been involved in... 

---