Polyprenyl compounds polymerization

Reaction type 6B of Table 10-1 is allylic rearrangement with simultaneous condensation with another molecule. The reaction, which is catalyzed by prenyl-transferases,3073 occurs during the polymerization of polyprenyl compounds (Fig. 22-1,Eqs. 22-2,22-3). Experimental evidence favors a carbocation mechanism for all of these reactions.308 309 See Chapter 22. 

Chain elongation during polymerization of prenyl units can be terminated in one of a number of ways. The pyrophosphate group may be hydrolyzed to a monophosphate or to a free alcohol. Alternatively, two polyprenyl compounds may join "head to head" to form a symmetric dimer. The C30 terpene squalene, the precursor to cholesterol, arises in this way from two molecules of famesyl diphosphate as does phy-toene, precursor of the Qo carotenoids, from E,E,E geranylgeranyl diphosphate. The phytanyl groups of archaebacterial lipids (p. 385) arise rather directly from geranylgeranyl diphosphate by transfer of the poly-... 

The advantages of supercritical fluid chromatography for polymer separations have been illustrated in the literature for many years. A recent example is the separation of long-chain polyprenols using SFC with matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization TOF mass spectrometry [10]. The generic name for 1,4-polyprenyl alcohols is polyprenol these compounds generally have smaller polymerization chains of less... 

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