Terpenes carotenoids

The terpenes, carotenoids, steroids, and many other compounds arise in a direct way from the prenyl group of isopentenyl diphosphate (Fig. 22-1).16a Biosynthesis of this five-carbon branched unit from mevalonate has been discussed previously (Chapter 17, Fig. 17-19) and is briefly recapitulated in Fig. 22-1. Distinct isoenzymes of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase) in the liver produce HMG-CoA destined for formation of ketone bodies (Eq. 17-5) or mevalonate.7 8 A similar cytosolic enzyme is active in plants which, collectively, make more than 30,000 different isoprenoid compounds.910 However, many of these are formed by an alternative pathway that does not utilize mevalonate but starts with a thiamin diphosphate-dependent condensation of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate with pyruvate (Figs. 22-1,22-2). 

Polyprenyl compounds are formed by condensation of isoprene units that are derived from acetate by reductive trimerization and decarboxylation. These compounds include terpenes, carotenoids, sterols, and steroids (Coscia, 1984 Hobkirk, 1979). 

Christie (1987) noted that a variety of diverse compounds generally soluble in organic solvents are usually classified as lipids, i.e., fatty aeids and their derivatives, steroids, terpenes, carotenoids, and bile acids. He suggested that many of these diverse compounds have little in the way of structure or function to make them related and that many substances regarded as lipids may be more soluble in water, e.g., glycolipids and gangliosides, than in organic solvents. Fried (1991, 1996) provided a list of numerous diverse lipophilic substances that have been examined by TLC and included typical sorbents, solvent systems, and references for these substances. 

Since GAs as diterpenes share many intermediates in the biosynthetic steps leading to other terpenoids, eg, cytokinins, ABA, sterols, and carotenoids, inhibitors of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway of terpene synthesis also inhibit GA synthesis (57). Biosynthesis of GAs progresses in three stages, ie, formation of / Akaurene from MVA, oxidation of /-kaurene to GA 2" hyde, and further oxidation of the GA22-aldehyde to form the different GAs more than 70 different GAs have been identified. 

Tetraterpenes. Carotenoids make up the most important group of C q terpenes and terpenoids, although not all carotenoids contain 40 carbon atoms. They are widely distributed in plant, marine, and animal life. It has been estimated that nature produces about 100 million t/yr of carotenoids synthetic production amounts to several hundred tons per year (207,208). 

More than half of the reported secondary metabolites from macroalgae are isoprenoids. Terpenes, steroids, carotenoids, prenylated quinines, and hydroqui-nones make up the isoprenoid class, which is understood to derive from either the classical mevalonate pathway, or the mevalonate-independent pathway (Stratmann et al. 1992). Melavonic acid (MVA) (Fig. 1.2) is the first committed metabolite of the terpene pathway. Dimethylallyl (dl meth al lal) pyrophosphate (DMAPP) (Fig. 1.3) and its isomer isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP, Fig. 1.3) are intermediates of the MVA pathway and exist in nearly all life forms (Humphrey and Beale 2006). Geranyl (ja ran al) (C10) and famesyl (C15) units are generated by head-to-tail (Fig. 1.3) condensation of two (for C10) or three (for C15) 5-carbon DMA-like isoprene units, identifiable in final products by the characteristic fish-tail repeating units, as traced over the structure of a sesquiterpene in Fig. 1.3 (Humphrey and Beale 2006). Additional IPP condensation with famesyl pyrophosphate (FPP)... 

Botanically speaking, citrus is a hesperidium, a berry with a leathery aromatic rind and a fleshy interior divided into sections. As shown by the cross section shown in Fig. 6.1, the exo carp or peel consists of an outer layer called the flavedo which contains oil glands and pigments and a white spongy inner layer called the albedo. The fleshy interior or endocarp of the fruit consists of wedge-shaped sections (segments) filled with multiple fluid-filled sacs or vesicles. These juice sacs constitute the edible portion of a citrus fruit. The cytoplasm contents provide the primary source of the citrus juice. The juice consists primarily of water, sugars, pectins, lipids, terpenes, amino acids, phenolics, carotenoids and minerals. 

Terpenes important for both fragrances and flavours can be prepared from citral, such as citronellol, linalool, nerolidol, geraniol, farnesol and bisabolol. Citral is also an important starting material for the synthesis of vitamins A and E, carotenoids and other flavour and fragrance compounds like ionones. Most of the /3-ionone synthesised is probably used for vitamin A synthesis. 

A large group of isoprenoid lipids, including sterols, terpenes, and carotenoid compounds, are... 

Starting with the simple compounds acetyl-CoA, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, and pyruvate, which arise via the central pathways of metabolism, the key intermediate isopentenyl diphosphate is formed by two independent mutes. It is then converted by bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals into thousands of different naturally occurring products. These include high polymers, such as rubber, as well as vitamins, sterols, carotenoids, and over 30,000 different terpenes and related compounds. Many of the latter are found only in specific plants where they may function as defensive compounds or pheromones. 

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-... 

Abscisic acid, one of five known types of plant hormone of general distribution throughout higher plants, is not regarded as a tme terpene because it arises by degradation of a carotenoid.99 99b However, its stmcture (Fig. 22-4) is that of a sesquiterpene. 

Isoprenoid structures for carotenoids, phytol, and other terpenes start biosynthetically from acetyl coenzyme A (89) with successive additions giving mevalonate, isopentyl pyrophosphate, geranyl pyrophosphate, farnesyl pyrophosphate (from which squalene and steroids arise), with further build-up to geranyl geranyl pyrophosphate, ultimately to a- and /3-carotenes, lutein, and violaxanthin and related compounds. Aromatic hydrocarbon nuclei are biosynthesized in many instances by the shikimic acid pathway (90). More complex polycyclic aromatic compounds are synthesized by other pathways in which naphthalene dimerization is an important step (91). 

Fatty acids. Lipids, Secondary polyketides Mevalonate, Steroids, Carotenoids, Terpenes... 

Hydrogenation of 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-cyclohexenone with rrans-RuCl2(tolbinap)(dpen) and (CH3)3COK under 8 atm of hydrogen gives 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-cyclohexenol quantitatively with 96% ee (Scheme 1.70) [256,275,276]. In this case, unlike in the reaction of aromatic ketones, the combination of the R diphosphine and S,S diamine most effectively discriminates the enantiofaces. The chiral allylic alcohol is a versatile intermediate in the synthesis of carotenoid-derived odorants and other bioactive terpens such as a-damascone and dihydroactinidiolide [277]. 

The term lipid can be defined as fatty acids, their derivatives, and substances related biosynthetically or functionally to these compounds. This definition encompasses cholesterol and bile acids, but does not include other steroids, fat-soluble vitamins, carotenoids, or terpenes (Christie, 1987, p. 42). 

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