Terpenoids isoprene units

D-Mevalonic acid is the fundamental intermediate in the biosynthesis of the terpenoids and steroids, together classed as poly-isoprenoids. The biogenetic isoprene unit is isopentenyl pyrophosphate which arises by enzymic decarboxylation-dehydration of mevalonic acid pyrophosphate. D-Mevalonic acid is almost quantitatively incorporated into cholesterol synthesized by rat liver homogenates. 

Regardless of Llieu apparent structural differences, all terpenoids are related. According to a formalism called the isoprene rule, they can be thought of as arising from head-to-tail joining of 5-carbon isoprene units (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene). Carbon 1 is the head of the isoprene unit, and carbon 4 is the tail. For example, myreene contains two isoprene units joined head to tail, forming an 8-carbon chain with two 1-carbon branches. a-Pinene similarly contains two isoprene units assembled into a more complex cyclic structure, and humulene contains three isoprene units. See if you can identify the isoprene units in a -pinene and humulene. 

Terpenes (and terpenoids) are further classified according to the number of 5-carbon units they contain. Thus, monoterpenes are 10-carbon substances biosynthesized from two isoprene units, sesquiterpenes are 15-carbon molecules from three isoprene units, diterpenes are 20-carbon substances from four isoprene units, and so on. Monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes are found primarily in plants, but the higher terpenoids occur in both plants and animals, and many have important biological roles. The triterpenoid lanosterol, for example, is the precursor from which all steroid hormones are made. 

Scheme 13.6 is a retrosynthetic outline of the syntheses in Schemes 13.7 to 13.9. The common feature of these syntheses is the use of terpene-derived starting materials. The use of such a starting material is suggested by the terpenoid structure of juvabione, which can be divided into isoprene units. ... 

Rohmer, M., Seemann, M., Horbach, S. et al. (1996) Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and pyruvate as precursors of isoprenic units in an alternative non-mevalonate pathway for terpenoid biosynthesis. Journal of the American... 

Figure 7.8 2-methylbutadiene (C5H8), the isoprene unit - the basis of the terpenoid family of compounds. 

Table 7.2. Structural formulas of the terpenoid groups, and their construction from basic isoprene units.

Bloch therefore suggested isoprene units could be condensed first to give squalene and then cholesterol, an extension of Ruzicka s isoprene rule for the biosynthesis of linear and cyclic terpenoids. It was then necessary to show that selectively labeled 14C-acetate could get incorporated into squalene with the correct distribution of 14C and that this squalene could give rise to cholesterol, also with the appropriate position of the 14C label. 

Earlier work by Nancy Bucher showed an ATP requirement for cholesterol biosynthesis. The involvement of phosphorylated intermediates was established by Comforth, Popjak, and their associates in the early 1960s with the discovery of kinases which successively phosphorylated MVA to MVA-P and MVA-P to MVA-PP. MVA-PP was decar-boxylated and dehydrated to give the biological C5 isoprene unit, isopentenyl pyrophosphate. This undergoes successive head-to-tail condensations to give the linear 15C terpenoid, famesyl pyrophosphate. 

Sesquiterpenes are formed by the addition of one more isoprene units to a monoterpene molecule, and thus have the molecular formula C15H24 (see also Fig. 4.2). There are linear, branched or cyclic sesquiterpenes. Sesquiterpenes are unsaturated compounds. Cyclic sesquiterpenes may be monocyclic, bicyclic or tricyclic. They are the most diverse group among the volatile terpenoids [2, 3, 7-11, 13,14, 16, 20-24, 37-39, 49]. The DNP treats sesquiterpenoids in 147 different structural types [37]. Various types of sesquiterpenes (69-109) can also be seen in Structure 4.16. 

Terpenoids are compounds derived from a combination of two or more isoprene units. Isoprene is a five carbon unit, chemically known as 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene. According to the isoprene rule proposed by Leopold Ruzicka, terpenoids arise from head-to-tail joining of isoprene units. Carbon 1 is called the head and carbon 4 is the tail . For example, myrcene is a simple 10-carbon-containing terpenoid formed from the head-to-tail union of two isoprene units as follows. 

Terpenoids are classihed according to the number of isoprene units involved in the formation of these compounds. 

Type of terpenoids Number of carbon atoms Number of isoprene units Example... 

Monoterpenes, 10-carbon-containing terpenoids, are composed of two isoprene units, and found abundantly in plants, e.g. (+)-limonene from lemon oil, and (—)-linalool from rose oil. Many monoterpenes are the constituents of plant volatile oils or essential oils. These compounds are particularly important as flavouring agents in pharmaceutical, confectionery and perfume products. However, a number of monoterpenes show various types of bioactivity and are used in medicinal preparations. For example, camphor is used in liniments against rheumatic pain, menthol is used in ointments and liniments as a remedy against itching, bitter-orange peel is used as an aromatic bitter tonic and as a remedy for poor appetite and thymol and carvacrol are used in bactericidal preparations. 

Sesquiterpenes, 15-carbon-containing terpenoids, are composed of three isoprene units, and found abundantly in plants, e.g. artemisinin from... 

The terpenoids are secondary metabolites that are found in essential oils, resins, tissues of higher plants and micro-organisms, whilst recently some have also been located in liverworts [5,6]. The terpenoids are formed from linear arrangements of isoprene units, Fig. (1), which are derived from acetate metabolism through mevalonic acid (MVA). This pathway was found to be common to the whole range of natural terpenoid derivatives... 

The terpenoids form a large and structurally diverse family of natural products derived from C5 isoprene units (Figure 5.1) joined in a head-to-tail fashion. Typical structures contain carbon skeletons represented by (Cs) , and are classified as hemiterpenes (C5), monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15), diterpenes (C2o), sesterterpenes (C25), triterpenes (C30) and tetraterpenes (C40) (Figure 5.2). Higher polymers are encountered in materials such as rubber. Isoprene itself (Figure 5.1) had been characterized as a decomposition product from various natural cyclic hydrocarbons, and was suggested as the fundamental building block for these compounds, also referred to as isoprenoids . Isoprene is produced naturally but is not involved in the formation of... 

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