Hydride biosynthesis

Another example of a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction, this one a substitution by hydride inn to effect partial reduction of a thioester to an aldehyde, occurs in the biosynthesis of mevaldehyde, an intermediate in terpenoid... 

Reductive animations also occur in various biological pathways, fn the biosynthesis of the amino acid proline, for instance, glutamate 5-semjaldehyde undergoes internal imine formation to give 1-pyrrolinium 5-carboxylate, which is then reduced by nucleophilic addition of hydride ion to the C=N bond. 

The second part of lanosterol biosynthesis is catalyzed by oxidosqualene lanosterol cyclase and occurs as shown in Figure 27.14. Squalene is folded by the enzyme into a conformation that aligns the various double bonds for undergoing a cascade of successive intramolecular electrophilic additions, followed by a series of hydride and methyl migrations. Except for the initial epoxide protonation/cyclization, the process is probably stepwise and appears to involve discrete carbocation intermediates that are stabilized by electrostatic interactions with electron-rich aromatic amino acids in the enzyme. 

In step 6 of fatty-acid biosynthesis (Figure 29.5), acetoacetyl A CP is reduced steieospecifically by NADPH to yield an alcohol. Does hydride ion add to the Si face or the Re face of acetoacetyl ACP ... 

In step 8 of fatty-acid biosynthesis (Figure 29.5), reduction of fram-crotonyl ACP gives butyryl ACP. A hydride from NADPH adds to C3 of the crotonyl group from file Re face, and protonation on C2 occurs on the Si face. Is tire reduction a syn addition or an anti addition ... 

Most of the more recently described allenic steroids bear an allene group at the 17-position, which was usually formed by an SN2 substitution [106] or reduction [86d] process of a suitable propargylic electrophile. Thus, reduction of the pro-pargylic ether 109 with lithium aluminum hydride followed by deprotection of the silyl ether resulted in the formation of the allenic steroid 110, which irreversibly inhibits the biosynthesis of the insect moulting hormone ecdysone (Scheme 18.35) [107]. 

Nicotinate and nicotinamide, together referred to as niacin, are required for biosynthesis of the coenzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD"") and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP" ). These both serve in energy and nutrient metabolism as carriers of hydride ions (see pp. 32, 104). The animal organism is able to convert tryptophan into nicotinate, but only with a poor yield. Vitamin deficiency therefore only occurs when nicotinate, nicotinamide, and tryptophan are all simultaneously are lacking in the diet. It manifests in the form of skin damage (pellagra), digestive disturbances, and depression. 

A key step in DNA biosynthesis, that of conversion of deoxyuridylate (dUMP) to deoxythymidylate (dTMP), is catalyzed by thymidylate synthetase which uses (25) as cofactor. This reaction involves both the transfer of a one carbon unit at the formaldehyde level and hydride transfer (from C-6 of (25)) to produce 7,8-dihydrofolate (27) and dTMP... 

In green plants, which contain little or no cholesterol, cydoartenol is the key intermediate in sterol biosynthesis.161-1623 As indicated in Fig. 22-6, step c, cydoartenol can be formed if the proton at C-9 is shifted (as a hydride ion) to displace the methyl group from C-8. A proton is lost from the adjacent methyl group to close the cyclopropane ring. There are still other ways in which squalene is cyclized,162/163/1633 including some that incorporate nitrogen atoms and form alkaloids.1631 One pathway leads to the hop-anoids. These triterpene derivatives function in bacterial membranes, probably much as cholesterol does in our membranes. The three-dimensional structure of a bacterial hopene synthase is known.164 1643 Like glucoamylase (Fig. 2-29) and farnesyl transferase, the enzyme has an (a,a)6-barrel structure in one domain and a somewhat similar barrel in a second domain. 

The two remaining reactions in the biosynthesis of lanosterol are shown in figure 20.9. In the first of these reactions, squalene-2,3-oxide is formed from squalene. As can be seen in figure 20.8, squalene is a symmetrical molecule, hence the formation of squalene oxide can be initiated from either end of the molecule. The oxide is converted into lanosterol. The reaction can be formulated as proceeding by means of a protonated intermediate that undergoes a concerted series of trans-1,2 shifts of methyl groups and hydride ions to produce lanosterol (see fig. 20.9). 

As shown in the biosynthesis of granaticin, a hydride shift occurs intramolecularly. This process is mediated by an enzyme-bond pyridine nucleotide. A concerted abstraction of H-4 as a hydride in la and a C-5 deprotonation in 2a leads to the 4,5-enol ether 3a. The reduced form of the pyridine nucleotide transfers the hydride to C-6, simultaneously releasing a hydroxide to give 4a. Final tautomerization yields the dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-sugar in v-xylo configuration 4a. In other enzymes of the oxidoreductase type, the active site may show a different configuration. Thus, the intermediate 3a can be protonated from above at C-5 to yield the l-arabino isomer of 4a [2]. The stereochemistry of this mechanism was demonstrated by double labelling (cf. l-4b series), and as a net result proved a suprafacial 4—>6 hydride shift. 

A quantum chemical investigation of the biosynthesis of farnesyl pyrophosphate through the condensation of isopentenyl pyrophosphate and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate suggests that the mechanism is concerted, although the transition state has carbocationic character.164 Quantum chemical calculations were performed on the cyclization of the farnesyl cation to the sesquiterpene pentalenene.165 Two distinct pathways with similar activation barriers were identified, each differing from previous proposed mechanisms, and each involving unusual carbocationic intermediates. Mechanisms previously proposed for enzyme-catalysed formation of the sesquiterpene trichodiene involve carbocation intermediates with a 1,4-hydride transfer as the key step, e.g. (89) -> (90) - (91).166 Quantum chemical calculations, however, show a... 

The diversity of the products obtained by the three-component domino-Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction can be further increased by a different work-up of the formed cycloadduct 141. Thus, hydrogenolytic removal of the Cbz-group in 141 led to 151 with a lactam and an aldehyde moiety by reaction of the formed secondary amine with the lactone moiety followed by elimination of benzyl alcohol. Reduction of 151 with lithium aluminum hydride gave benzoquinolizidine 152 (Scheme 5.30). Alkaloids of this type have so far not been found in nature, but it can be assumed that they might exist, since they could easily be formed from deacetylisopecoside 153, which is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of emetine 111. 

Digitalis lanata, where the pro-4R hydrogen of MVA occupied the pro-24S position and trans-addition of hydrogen was deduced. The demethylation steps in the biosynthesis of cholesterol have received much attention. In rat liver microsomes the removal of the 14a -methyl group of 24,25-dihydrolanosterol led to the formation of a A8,14-diene (84), and neither a A8(14)-ene nor a A8,14,24-triene were obligate intermediates in cholesterol synthesis.141,142 14a-Demethylation, which was preceded by A24,25-reduction in rat liver system, involved cytochrome P450, whilst the next step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol, AI4-reduction, and the reduction of the A7- and A5,7-sterols were completely inhibited by the drug AY-9944.142,143 In yeast, A14-reduction probably involved trans-addition of a hydride ion from NADPH and a proton from the medium at the 14a- and 15/3-positions, respectively.144... 

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