Claisen condensation steps

Both bacteria and plants have separate enzymes that catalyze the individual steps in the biosynthetic sequence (Fig. 17-12). The fatty acyl group grows while attached to the small acyl carrier protein (ACP).54 58 Control of the process is provided, in part, by the existence of isoenzyme forms. For example, in E. coli there are three different P-oxoacyl-ACP synthases. They carry out the transfer of any acyl primer from ACP to the enzyme, decarboxylate malonyl-ACP, and carry out the Claisen condensation (steps b, e, and/in Eq. 17-12)58a e One of the isoenzymes is specialized for the initial elongation of acetyl-ACP and also provides feedback regulation.58c The other two function specifically in synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. 

Most of the pigments of flowers arise from a single polyketide precursor. Phenylalanine is converted to trans-cinnamic acid (Eq. 14-45) and then to cinnamoyl-CoA. The latter acts as the starter piece for chain elongation via malonyl-CoA (step a in the accompanying scheme). The resulting (3-polyketone derivative can cyclize in two ways. The aldol condensation (step b) leads to stilbenecar-boxylic acid and to such compounds as pinosylvin of pine trees. The Claisen condensation (step c) produces chalcones, flavonones, and flavones. These, in turn, can be converted to the yellow fla-vonol pigments and to the red, purple, and blue anthocyanidins.3 c... 

The chiral samples of malonyl-CoA were then used to probe the steric course of fatty acid biosynthesis. Again, the experiment was complicated by tritium exchange during the incubation, both before and after the Claisen condensation step, resulting in 51% tritium retention from the S isomer and 23% tritium retention from the R isomer. Fatty acid biosynthesis involves Claisen condensation of malonyl-CoA with an acyl-CoA ester of 2 n carbon chain length to... 

CHS (Fig. 2), the most studied member of the type III PKS family, is a ubiquitous enzyme in plants that catalyzes the first committed step in flavonoid biosynthesis, the elongation of the starter molecule 4-coumaroyl-CoA by addition of three acetate units derived from three molecules ofmalonyl-CoA [19]. After binding ofthe 4-coumaroyl moiety to the active site Cysl64, sequential polyketide chain elongation is initiated by the decarboxylation of malonyl-CoA to form an acetyl-CoA carbanion, followed by an intramolecular Claisen condensation step and subsequent cyclization and aromatization, yielding chalcone [20]. 

Mechanism of the Claisen Condensation Step 1. Ester enolate formation... 

Clearly, the nex.t step will be to investigate the physicochemical effects, such as charge distribution and inductive and resonance effects, at the reaction center to obtain a deeper insight into the mechanisms of these biochemical reactions and the finer details of similar reactions. Here, it should be emphasized that biochemical reactions arc ruled and driven basically by the same effects as organic reactions. Figure 10.3-22 compares the Claisen condensation of acetic esters to acctoacctic esters with the analogous biochemical reaction in the human body. 

Claisen condensations involve two distinct experimental operations The first stage concludes m step 4 of Figure 21 1 where the base removes a proton from C 2 of the p keto ester Because this hydrogen is relatively acidic the position of equilibrium for step 4 lies far to the right... 

Unless the p keto ester can form a stable anion by deprotonation as m step 4 of Figure 21 1 the Claisen condensation product is present m only trace amounts at equi librium Ethyl 2 methylpropanoate for example does not give any of its condensation product under the customary conditions of the Claisen condensation... 

The final step in the /3-oxidation cycle is the cleavage of the /3-ketoacyI-CoA. This reaction, catalyzed by thiolase (also known as j8-ketothiolase), involves the attack of a cysteine thiolate from the enzyme on the /3-carbonyI carbon, followed by cleavage to give the etiolate of acetyl-CoA and an enzyme-thioester intermediate (Figure 24.17). Subsequent attack by the thiol group of a second CoA and departure of the cysteine thiolate yields a new (shorter) acyl-CoA. If the reaction in Figure 24.17 is read in reverse, it is easy to see that it is a Claisen condensation—an attack of the etiolate anion of acetyl-CoA on a thioester. Despite the formation of a second thioester, this reaction has a very favorable A).q, and it drives the three previous reactions of /3-oxidation. 

Two possible mechanisms exist for the Friedlander reaction. The first involves initial imine formation followed by intramolecular Claisen condensation, while the second reverses the order of the steps. Evidence for both mechanisms has been found, both... 

The following reaction involves a conjugate addition reaction followed by an intramolecular Claisen condensation. Write both steps, and show their mechanisms. 

Step 1 of Figure 27.7 Claisen Condensation The first step in mevalonate biosynthesis is a Claisen condensation (Section 23.7) to yield acetoacetyl CoA, a reaction catalyzed by acetoacetyl-CoA acetyltransferase. An acetyl group is first bound to the enzyme by a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with a cysteine —SH group. Formation of an enolate ion from a second molecule of acetyl CoA, followed by Claisen condensation, then yields the product. 

Step 4 of Figure 29.3 Chain Cleavage Acetyl CoA is split off from the chain in the final step of /3-oxidation, leaving an acyl CoA that is two carbon atoms shorter than the original. The reaction is catalyzed by /3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase and is mechanistically the reverse of a Claisen condensation reaction (Section 23.7). In the forward direction, a Claisen condensation joins two esters together to form a /3-keto ester product. In the reverse direction, a retro-Claisen reaction splits a /3-keto ester (or /3-keto thioester) apart to form two esters (or two thioesters). 

Step 5 of Figure 29.5 Condensation The key carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction that builds the fatty-acid chain occurs in step 5. This step is simply a Claisen condensation between acetyl synthase as the electrophilic acceptor and malonyl ACP as the nucleophilic donor. The mechanism of the condensation is thought to involve decarboxylation of malonyl ACP to give an enolate ion, followed by immediate addition of the enolate ion to the carbonyl group of acetyl... 

An important group of acylation reactions involves esters, in which case the leaving group is alkoxy or aryloxy. The self-condensation of esters is known as the Claisen condensation.216 Ethyl acetoacetate, for example, is prepared by Claisen condensation of ethyl acetate. All of the steps in the mechanism are reversible, and a full equivalent of base is needed to bring the reaction to completion. Ethyl acetoacetate is more acidic than any of the other species present and is converted to its conjugate base in the final step. The (3-ketoester product is obtained after neutralization. 

Literature reports on synthetic methods for the construction of the pyrimidinone core were very limited. Most of the synthetic strategies toward the densely functionalized core fell into two methodologies, which start from the same amidoxime 13 (Scheme 6.3). Route A is a three-step sequence that involves hydrogenation of 13 to prepare amidine 14. Claisen condensation of commercially available a-benzyloxy acetate and methyl tert-butyl oxalate provides the dihydroxyfumarate... 

In the synthesis route from acetyl-CoA to poly(3HB), at least three steps and three enzymes are involved (Fig. 1). The first step is catalyzed by the 3-keto-thiolase (EC 2.3.1.9) which reversibly links two acetyl-CoA moieties to aceto-acetyl-CoA in a Claisen-condensation. The conversion of acetoacetyl-CoA into D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA can be mediated by a reductase (step 2) or via a sequence catalyzed by a reductase (step 4) and two hydratases (steps 5,6). The last step, i.e., the polymerization, is catalyzed by a polymerase (step 3). This... 

The Claisen reaction can now proceed smoothly, but nature introduces another little twist. The carboxyl group introduced into malonyl-CoA is simultaneously lost by a decarboxylation reaction during the Claisen condensation. Accordingly, we now see that the carboxylation step helps to activate the a-carbon and facilitate Claisen condensation, and the carboxyl is immediately removed on completion of this task. An alternative rationalization is that decarboxylation of the malonyl ester is used to generate the acetyl enolate anion without any requirement for a strong base (see Box 10.17). 

The Claisen condensation is one method of synthesizing (3-dicarbonyl compounds, specifically a (3-keto ester. This reaction begins with an ester and occurs in two steps. In the first step, a strong base, such as sodium ethoxide, removes a hydrogen ion from the carbon atom adjacent to the carbonyl group in the ester. (Resonance stabilizes the anion formed from the ester.) The anion can then attack a second molecule of the ester, which begins a series of mechanistic steps until the anion of the (3-dicarbonyl compound forms, which, in the second reaction step (acidification), gives the product. 

The Claisen condensation bears some resemblance to the Aldol condensation seen in Chapter 11. The initial step in the mechanisms are very similar in that in both cases a resonance-stabilized ion is formed. 

Many continuous processes are used to prepare early pharmaceutical intermediates, but Pfizer recently presented a continuous process to prepare the API itself. A continuous process to prepare the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib was described (Scheme 11.3) [6]. The batch process for celecoxib consists of two steps (1) a base-mediated Claisen reaction between 4-methylacetophenone and ethyl trifluoroacetate, and (2) an acid-mediated pyrazole condensation between enolate intermediate 8 and hydrazine 9 giving celecoxib (Scheme 11.4) [7]. Continuously flowing the Claisen reaction step 1 into the pyrazole condensation step 2 offers the advantages of directly telescoping continuous processing steps, as described in the introduction to this chapter. 

Polycarboxylic acid synthases. Several enzymes, including citrate synthase, the key enzyme which catalyzes the first step of the citric acid cycle, promote condensations of acetyl-CoA with ketones (Eq. 13-38). An a-oxo acid is most often the second substrate, and a thioester intermediate (Eq. 13-38) undergoes hydrolysis to release coenzyme A.199 Because the substrate acetyl-CoA is a thioester, the reaction is often described as a Claisen condensation. The same enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of acetyl-CoA with a ketone also catalyzes the second step, the hydrolysis of the CoA thioester. These polycarboxylic acid synthases are important in biosynthesis. They carry out the initial steps in a general chain elongation process (Fig. 17-18). While one function of the thioester group in acetyl-CoA is to activate the methyl hydrogens toward the aldol condensation, the subsequent hydrolysis of the thioester linkage provides for overall irreversibility and "drives" the synthetic reaction. 

Other Claisen condensations are involved in synthesis of fatty acids and polyketides217 (Chapter 21) and in formation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA, the precursor to the polyprenyl family of compounds (Chapter 22). In these cases the acetyl group of acetyl-CoA is transferred by a simple displacement mechanism onto an -SH group at the active site of the synthase to form an acetyl-enzyme.218 219 The acetyl-enzyme is the actual reactant in step b of Eq. 17-5 where this reaction, as well as that of HMG-CoA lyase, is illustrated. 

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