Stereospecificity, selectivity

Many instances of stereospecific selection of enantiotopic groups or faces may be found in nature. One such is extracted from the tricarboxylic acid cycle and is shown in Exercise 1.6. At each step, achiral reactants are transformed to achiral products with high stereospecificity ... 

In the first step, we showed by analytical studies that compound 28 was a donor substrate for transketolase in the presence of D-ribose-5-phosphate as acceptor substrate and that in the second step, the hydroxylated aldehyde released 29 led to the P-elimination of protected L-tyrosine. We showed that the free L-tyrosine can thus be obtained by enzymatic deprotection of N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester using acylase and subtilisine. In this conditions, it should be possible to carry out this assay in vivo in the presence of host cells overexpressing transketolase and auxotrophic for L-tyrosin. This strategy should offer the first stereospecific selection test of transketolase mutants. The principle of this assay may be extended to other enzymes that can release aldehydes P-substituted by L-tyrosine. 

Spinodal nucleation 218-220 - temperature 196, 239, 250, 279 Stability threshold 117 Stabilizers 123 Stereoregularity 157 Stereospecificity, selectivity 143 Styrene 76, 128... 

Enzymes are biological catalysts of the protein nature, which accelerate chemical reactions and are necessary for the living activity of organisms. En2ymatic catalysis is characterized by high substrate specificity (in some cases, stereospecificity), selectivity with respect to q>ecific bonds of die substrate, and capability of fine regulating the activity under the action of effectors (activators and inhibitors). 

Following the identification of the benzophenones (Fig. 2, IX, X and XII) as metabolic products of P. patulum, the reasonable and attractive hypothesis was advanced that griseofulvin biosynthesis proceeded by the pathway acetate-malonate -> (VIII) -> (IX) (X) -> (XII) (XIV) -> (XI) -> (I R = Cl) it received some support from the fact that the reactions (XII) -> (XIV) -> (XI) and (XI) -> (I R = Cl) had already been achieved in vitro by oxidative phenol radical coupling and stereospecific selective catal)d ic reduction respectively for review see Grove (1964). 

The diacetoxylation of E,E)- and ( ,Z)-2.4-hexadiene (351 and 353) is stereospecific, and 2,5-dimethylfurans (352 and 354) of different stereochemistry have been prepared from the isomers. Two different carboxylates are introduced with high cis selectivity by the reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene and... 

A common misconception is that a stereospecific reaction is simply one that is 100% stereoselective The two terms are not synonymous however A stereospecific reac tion IS one which when carried out with stereoisomeric starting materials gives a prod uct from one reactant that is a stereoisomer of the product from the other A stereo selective reaction is one m which a single starting material gives a predominance of a... 

Reactions of titanium alkyls with aldehydes and ketones are generally more stereospecific and selective than the corresponding Grignard reactions (416). 

In a first step, JS ocardia asteroides selectively oxidizes only (3)-pantolactone to ketopantolactone (19), whereas the (R)-pantolactone remains unaffected (47). The accumulated ketopantolactone is stereospecificaHy reduced to (R)-pantolactone in a second step with Candidaparapsilosis (product concentration 72 g/L, 90% molar yield and 100% ee) (48). Racemic pantolactone can also be converted to (R)-pantolactone by one single microbe, ie, Jiodococcus erythropolis by enantioselective oxidation to (3)-pantolactone and subsequent stereospecific reduction in 90% yield and 94% ee (product concentration 18 g/L) (40). 

Another important use of BCl is as a Ftiedel-Crafts catalyst ia various polymerisation, alkylation, and acylation reactions, and ia other organic syntheses (see Friedel-Crafts reaction). Examples include conversion of cyclophosphasenes to polymers (81,82) polymerisation of olefins such as ethylene (75,83—88) graft polymerisation of vinyl chloride and isobutylene (89) stereospecific polymerisation of propylene (90) copolymerisation of isobutylene and styrene (91,92), and other unsaturated aromatics with maleic anhydride (93) polymerisation of norhornene (94), butadiene (95) preparation of electrically conducting epoxy resins (96), and polymers containing B and N (97) and selective demethylation of methoxy groups ortho to OH groups (98). 

This conceptual link extends to surfaces that are not so obviously similar in stmcture to molecular species. For example, the early Ziegler catalysts for polymerization of propylene were a-TiCl. Today, supported Ti complexes are used instead (26,57). These catalysts are selective for stereospecific polymerization, giving high yields of isotactic polypropylene from propylene. The catalytic sites are beheved to be located at the edges of TiCl crystals. The surface stmctures have been inferred to incorporate anion vacancies that is, sites where CL ions are not present and where TL" ions are exposed (66). These cations exist in octahedral surroundings, The polymerization has been explained by a mechanism whereby the growing polymer chain and an adsorbed propylene bonded cis to it on the surface undergo an insertion reaction (67). In this respect, there is no essential difference between the explanation of the surface catalyzed polymerization and that catalyzed in solution. 

Catalytic hydrogenation has been utilized extensively in steroid research, and the method has been found to be of great value for the selective and stereospecific reduction of various functional groups. A number of empirical correlations concerning selectivity and product stereochemistry compiled for steroid hydrogenations has been listed in a previous review. ... 

Since the stereochemical course of a catalytic hydrogenation is dependent on several factors, " an understanding of the mechanism of the reaction can help in the selection of optimal reaction conditions more reliably than mere copying of a published recipe . In the first section the factors which can influence the product stereochemistry will be discussed from a mechanistic viewpoint. In subsequent sections the hydrogenation of various functional groups in the steroid ring system will be considered. In these sections both mechanistic and empirical correlations will be utilized with the primary emphasis being placed on selective and stereospecific reactions. 

As noted in Chapter 18, the enzymes that require nicotinamide coenzymes are stereospecific and transfer hydride to either the pro-i or the pro-S positions selectively. The table (facing page) lists the preferences of several dehydrogenases. 

The observation that addition of imidazoles and carboxylic acids significantly improved the epoxidation reaction resulted in the development of Mn-porphyrin complexes containing these groups covalently linked to the porphyrin platform as attached pendant arms (11) [63]. When these catalysts were employed in the epoxidation of simple olefins with hydrogen peroxide, enhanced oxidation rates were obtained in combination with perfect product selectivity (Table 6.6, Entry 3). In contrast with epoxidations catalyzed by other metals, the Mn-porphyrin system yields products with scrambled stereochemistry the epoxidation of cis-stilbene with Mn(TPP)Cl (TPP = tetraphenylporphyrin) and iodosylbenzene, for example, generated cis- and trans-stilbene oxide in a ratio of 35 65. The low stereospecificity was improved by use of heterocyclic additives such as pyridines or imidazoles. The epoxidation system, with hydrogen peroxide as terminal oxidant, was reported to be stereospecific for ris-olefins, whereas trans-olefins are poor substrates with these catalysts. 

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