Claisen-type condensation, cyclative

Nature gives us some illustrative examples of iterative methodologies in its biochemical mechanisms. The fatty acid-polyketide biosynthesis is one of them. The assembly of acyl units by sequential Claisen-type condensations to form a polyketide or fatty acid takes place at a multi-enzyme complex, at which the initial molecule is lengthened by one C2-unit per pass of a reaction cycle (Fig. 2). 

Acetogenins. Acetogenins are produced upon chain elongation with activated acetate units (or malonate followed by loss of carbon dioxide). A simplified sketch of this sequence is given in Fig. 1. During the first steps, a Claisen-type condensation of two acyl precursors yields a (3-ketoacyl intermediate A. Upon reduction to B and dehydration to C, followed by hydrogenation to D and hydrolysis, the chain elongated fatty acid E is produced. The next cycle will add another two carbons to the chain. Similarly, a reversed sequence leads to chain... 

The first cyclative cleavage of a small molecule was Crowley and Rapo-port s study41 of intramolecular Dieckmann condensations on solid phase (Fig. 13), which was complicated by the reversible nature of the cyclization. Despite the unique opportunities afforded by C-C rather than C-X bond formation during cleavage, there are few examples from the combinatorial age. A modern version of the Claisen-type condensation by Kulkarni and Ganesan42 uses a strongly acidic active methylene group to ensure unidirectional cyclization, and furnishes tetramic acids with three points of diversity. 

Fig. 13. Cyclative cleavages based on Claisen-type condensations.

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