Divalent stereochemistry

Divalent sulfur compounds are achiral, but trivalent sulfur compounds called sulfonium stilts (R3S+) can be chiral. Like phosphines, sulfonium salts undergo relatively slow inversion, so chiral sulfonium salts are configurationally stable and can be isolated. The best known example is the coenzyme 5-adenosylmethionine, the so-called biological methyl donor, which is involved in many metabolic pathways as a source of CH3 groups. (The S" in the name S-adenosylmethionine stands for sulfur and means that the adeno-syl group is attached to the sulfur atom of methionine.) The molecule has S stereochemistry at sulfur ana is configurationally stable for several days at room temperature. Jts R enantiomer is also known but has no biological activity. 

STEREOCHEMISTRY OF NUCLEOTIDE BINDING TO ACTIN AND TUBULIN ROLE OF DIVALENT METAL ION IN NUCLEOTIDE BINDING AND HYDROLYSIS... 

The properties of carbenes are also expected to depend very greatly on the electronic characteristics of substituents bound to the divalent carbon. For example, many carbenes with heteroatomic elements attached directly to the central carbon are calculated to have single ground states (Mueller et al., 1981). The early, pioneering work on the stereochemistry of the reaction of carbenes with olefins was done with dibromocarbene (Skell and Garner,... 

For a review of the stereochemistry at divalent nitrogen, see Raban and Greenblatt. in Palai The Chemistry of Functional Groups. Supplement F. pt. I, Wiley New York. 1982. pp. 53-83. 

In animals and in many bacteria, PEP is formed by decarboxylation of oxaloacetate. In this reaction, which is catalyzed by PEP carboxykinase (PEPCK), a molecule of GTP, ATP, or inosine triphosphate captures and phosphorylates the enolate anion generated by the decarboxylation (Eq. 13-46).252 The stereochemistry is such that C02 departs from the si face of the forming enol.253 The phospho group is transferred from GTP with inversion at the phosphorus atom 254 The enzyme requires a divalent metal ion, preferably Mn2+. 

In view of the synthetic applications, among carbanions stabilized by only one divalent sulfur atom, allylic thiocarbanions proved to be particularly valuable, as shown with Biellmann coupling of allylic groups, applied to an elegant synthesis of squalene from farnesyl bromide [301]. In this synthesis, the retention of the allylic double bond position and stereochemistry in both the metallation-alkylation and the desulfurization steps are noteworthy. However, the results are not always as clear-cut, and... 

In addition to such divalent species, the elements form compounds in formal oxidation states IV and VI with four, five, or six bonds tellurium may give an 8-coordinate ion TeFg". Some examples of compounds of Group 16 elements and their stereochemistries are listed in Table 12-2. They also form cyclic and polycyclic cations (e.g., S2+, Te +) under special conditions. 

Table 15-2 Stereochemistry" of Divalent Zinc, Cadmium, and Mercury...

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