Epoxides 1,2-diol formation

Keller GM, Christou M, Pottenger LH, et al. 1987. Product inhibition of benzo(a)pyrene metabolism in uninduced rat liver microsomes Effect of diol epoxide formation. Chem Biol Interact 61 159-175. 

PAHs are ubiquitous environmental pollutants known to be mutagenic and carcinogenic in mammalian cells [131, 132]. PAHs require metabolic activation that results in diol epoxide formation via reactions that are catalyzed by epoxide hydrolase and the CYP450 family of enzymes [133], Diol epoxides are highly reactive, particularly toward purines in DNA, forming guanine and adenine adducts that exist as as and trans stereoisomers [134]. Transcription past adducts derived from diol epoxides of benzo[o]pyrene (benzo[a]pyrene diol expoxide (B[a]PDE)), benzo[c]phenanthrene (benzo[c]phenanthrene diol epoxide (B[c]PhDE)), and dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (dibenzo[o,l]pyrene diol epoxide (B[a,l]PDE)) has been studied. 

The location of the position of double bonds in alkenes or similar compounds is a difficult process when only very small amounts of sample are available [712,713]. Hass spectrometry is often unsuited for this purpose unless the position of the double bond is fixed by derivatization. Oxidation of the double bond to either an ozonide or cis-diol, or formation of a methoxy or epoxide derivative, can be carried out on micrograms to nanograms of sample [713-716]. Single peaks can be trapped in a cooled section of a capillary tube and derivatized within the trap for reinjection. Ozonolysis is simple to carry out and occurs sufficiently rapidly that reaction temperatures of -70 C are common [436,705,707,713-717]. Several micro-ozonolysis. apparatuses are commercially available or can be readily assembled in the laboratory using standard equipment and a Tesla coil (vacuum tester) to generate the ozone. Reaction yields of ozonolysis products are typically 70 to 95t, although structures such as... 

Formation of Physical Intercalative Diol Epoxide-DNA Complexes... 

So we are still left with two models of the stereochemistry of DNA alkylated by a PAH diol epoxide the PAH either lies in a groove of DNA or else tries to intercalate between the bass of DNA. Since it is covalently bonded to a base it must cause considerable distortion if it tries to lie between the bases. However, the stacking observed in the crystalline state seems to argue for partial intercalation. We will need crystal structures of at least one appropriately alkylated polynucleotide before this problem can be resolved. And when this is done it will be just the beginning of the answer to the problem of alkylation of DNA by activated carcinogens. The subsequent question is, what is the lesion in DNA that is important in carcinogenesis, and then what does it cause to happen so that tumor formation is initiated ... 

A theoretical analysis is presented for the binding of the four dia-stereoisomers of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxides (BPDEs) to N2(g), N6(a), 06(G) and NU(c). Molecular models for binding and stereoselectivity involving intercalation, intercalative covalently and externally bound forms are presented. Molecular mechanics calculations provide the energetics which suggest possible structures for the formation of each of the principal DNA-BPDE complexes. Stereographic projections are used to illustrate the molecular structures and steric fits. The results of previous calculations on intercalation and adduct formation of BPDE l(+) in kinked DNA (37) are summarized and extended to include the four diastereoisomers l( ) and II( ). The theoretical model is consistent with the observed experimental data. 

The carcinogenicity of PAH with relativelyTigh IP, such as benzo[c]phenanthrene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, 5-methyl chrysene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (Table I), can be related to the formation of bay-region diol epoxides catalyzed by monooxygenase enzymes (j>). However, the most potent carcinogenic PAH have IP < ca. 7.35 eV. 

Hydrogenation of carbon dioxide in the presence of an epoxide generates a mixture of the diol, its formate esters, and the cyclic carbonate. While the reaction has been shown to operate in high yield (1300 TON for the cyclic carbonate Eq. (10)) [93], the fact that a mixture is generated and that the cyclic carbonate could be made more cleanly in the absence of H2 makes the reaction uninteresting for synthesis. Sasaki s group showed that this reaction in the presence of an amine base gives CO rather than cyclic carbonate (Eq. (11)) [94]. The epoxide then serves as a trap for the water. 

In contrast, the pathway best known to yield adduct-forming metabolites (the ultimate carcinogens) is the formation of dihydrodiol epoxides, usually referred to as diol epoxides . This pathway involves three steps a) formation of an M-region epoxide, b) its hydration to the M-region dihydrodiol, and c) epoxidation of the latter at the vicinal C=C bond bordering the bay or fjord region. 

Fig. 10.13. Metabolism of benzo[ ]pyrene (10.34). Shown are stereoselective formation of three isomeric epoxides, EH-catalyzed, stereoselective hydration to the dihydrodiols 10.35, 10.36, and 10.37, and, finally, 9,10-epoxidation of 10.36 to the bay-region diol epoxide 10.38. The latter exists as...

In contrast to the relative chemical stability of mono-epoxides, diol epoxides of fatty acids (10.52), which are formed from di-epoxides by EH, are subject to a different fate. In such metabolites, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution may occur, such that oxirane opening is accompanied by formation of a tetrahydrofuran ring [134], Such reactions of intramolecular nucleophilic substitution are discussed in detail in Sect. 11.9. In the case of diol epoxides of fatty acids, the resulting tetrahydrofuran-diols (10.53) are part of a much larger ensemble of oxygenated metabolites of fatty acids, the potential cytotoxicities of which are being evaluated [135]. 

In the pH range of 5 - 10, H20-catalyzed hydrolysis is the predominant mechanism (see Fig. 10.11, Pathway b), resulting in the formation of the (8R,9R)-dihydrodiol (10.133, Fig. 10.30). Thus, aflatoxin B1 exo-8,9-epoxide is possibly the most reactive oxirane of biological relevance. Such an extreme reactivity is mostly due to the electronic influence of 0(7), as also influenced by stereolectronic factors, i.e., the difference between the exo- and endo-epoxides. The structural and mechanistic analogies with the dihydro-diol epoxides of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Sect. 10.4.4) are worth noting. 

S. Vepachedu, N. Ya, H. Yagi, J. M. Sayer, D. M. Jerina, Marked Differences in Base Selectivity between DNA and the Free Nucleotides upon Adduct Formation from Bay- and Fjord-Region Diol Epoxides , Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2000, 13, 883 -890. 

Feldman, G., Remsen, J., Wang, TV., and Cerutti, P. (1980). Formation and excision of covalent deoxyribonucleic acid adducts of benzo[a]pyrene, 4,5-epoxide and benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide I in human lung cells A549, Biochem. 19,1095. 

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