Thiol esters acylation

Reversible acylation is important in biochemical reactions, and sulfur functions as an activator in many such processes. Coenzyme A (41) is an acyl group carrier which is involved in lipid oxidation and the biosynthesis of lipids and steroids. The active form of coenzyme A is the thiol ester (acyl coenzyme A) (42), which is more stable than coenzyme A (41) and hence functions as an efficient acyl group donor for a substrate RH (Scheme 26). 

Scheme 68 shows the conversion of the phenoxymethylpenicillin-derived disulfide (see Scheme 10) to penem derivative (91) (78JA8214). Of particular interest in this sequence is the reductive acylation step to afford (89) and the Wittig ring closure to give (90). The rate of the latter reaction was found to be greatly infiuenced by the steric and electronic character of both the thiol ester and the carboxyl blocking group. 

Several additional points should be made. First, although oxygen esters usually have lower group-transfer potentials than thiol esters, the O—acyl bonds in acylcarnitines have high group-transfer potentials, and the transesterification reactions mediated by the acyl transferases have equilibrium constants close to 1. Second, note that eukaryotic cells maintain separate pools of CoA in the mitochondria and in the cytosol. The cytosolic pool is utilized principally in fatty acid biosynthesis (Chapter 25), and the mitochondrial pool is important in the oxidation of fatty acids and pyruvate, as well as some amino acids. 

Acid derivatives that can be converted to amides include thiol acids (RCOSH), thiol esters (RCOSR), ° acyloxyboranes [RCOB(OR )2]. silicic esters [(RCOO)4Si], 1,1,1-trihalo ketones (RCOCXa), a-keto nitriles, acyl azides, and non-enolizable ketones (see the Haller-Bauer reaction 12-31). A polymer-bound acyl derivative was converted to an amide using tributylvinyl tin, trifluoroacetic acid, AsPh3, and a palladium catalyst. The source of amine in this reaction was the polymer itself, which was an amide resin. 

Unsaturated acyl derivatives of oxazolidinones can be used as acceptors, and these reactions are enantioselective in the presence of chiral to-oxazoline catalysts.321 Silyl ketene acetals of thiol esters are good reactants and the stereochemistry depends on the ketene acetal configuration. The Z-isomer gives higher diastereoselectivity than the Zf-isomer. 

Additional acceleration of acylation can be obtained by inclusion of cupric salts, which coordinate at the pyridine nitrogen. This modification is useful for the preparation of highly hindered esters.122 Pyridine-2-thiol esters can be prepared by reaction of the carboxylic acid with 2,2 -dipyridyl disulfide and triphenylphosphine123 or directly from the acid and 2-pyridyl thiochloroformate.124... 

The mixed carbonic anhydride procedure8-7 has been useful in the preparation of amide linkages and thiol esters. Mixed carbonic anhydrides have successfully acylated, under very mild conditions, the carb-anions derived from diethyl ethylmalonate and diethylcadmium.8 The latter gives as a product the corresponding ketone. Mixed anhydrides derived from acetic and acetylsalicylic acids give results similar to those described here.8... 

A few interesting variants of the Pd-catalyzed acylation of organozincs have been developed. In one such variant, thiol esters are employed in place of acyl chlorides214. Another is the Ni-catalyzed reaction of organozincs with cyclic anhydrides215 shown in Scheme 82. this desymmetrization reaction can be made highly enantioselective, it would become a significant tool for asymmetric synthesis. 

Acid derivatives that can be converted to amides include thiol acids RCOSH, thiol esters RCOSR,911 acyloxyboranes RCOB(OR )2,912 silicic esters (RCOO)4Si, 1,1,1-trihalo ketones RCOCX3,913 a-keto nitriles, acyl azides, and nonenolizable ketones (see the Haller-Bauer reaction 2-33). 

The first step in the activation of a fatty acid— either for energy-yielding oxidation or for use in the synthesis of more complex lipids—is the formation of its thiol ester (see Fig. 17-5). The direct condensation of a fatty acid with coenzyme A is endergonic, but the formation of fatty acyl-CoA is made exergonic by stepwise removal of two phosphoiyl groups from ATP. First, adenylate (AMP) is transferred from ATP to the carboxyl group of the fatty acid, forming a mixed anhydride... 

Pantothenic acid is a component of coenzyme A, which functions in the transfer of acyl groups (Figure 28.17). Coenzyme A contains a thiol group that carries acyl compounds as activated thiol esters. Examples of such structures are succinyl CoA, fatty acyl CoA, and acetyl CoA. Pantothenic acid is also a component of fatty acid synthase (see p. 182). Eggs, liver, and yeast are the most important sources of pan tothenic acid, although the vitamin is widely distributed. Pantothenic acid deficiency is not well characterized in humans, and no RDA has been established. 

An essentially neutral process for C-acylation relies on the reaction of imidazolides (542) with the magnesium salt (543) of a malonic acid half thiol ester (Scheme 119) (79AG(E)72>. The method requires slight modification when applied to an w-hydroxycarboxylic acid since a primary hydroxyl reacts with carbonyldiimidazole. The use of malonic acid half thiol esters in this fashion patterns the scheme proposed for carbon-carbon bond formation in the biosynthesis of fatty acids. 

Thiol esters RC(0)SR are stronger acylating agents than simple alkyl esters, and have been prepared on solid phase mainly as synthetic intermediates. The preparation of thiol esters as intermediates for the synthesis of support-bound thiols is discussed in Section 8.1. Further examples of the preparation of thiol esters on insoluble supports include the aldol addition of ketene thioacetals to polystyrene-bound aldehydes... 

Entry 1, Table 13.17), the acylation of support-bound thiols (Entries 2 and 3), and the acylation of thiols with support-bound carboxylic acids (Entry 4, Table 13.17). Thiol esters are stable towards acids (e.g. 50% TFA in DCM), but are readily cleaved by nucleophiles and are reduced to alcohols by treatment with LiBH4 [170]. 

Only very few among the common amino acids possess a pK within the range 5.8-7.0. Therefore, the imidazole ring of histidine was suspected very early to represent the group responsible for nucleophilic attack on the substrate (38). The pK of free imidazol is 6.9 (39) that of imidazol, contained in histidine or its peptides, varies between 5.6 and 7.1 (40). Imidazol is well known to form unstable acyl derivatives, which undergo spontaneous hydrolysis because of the presence of the resonating triad unit —-N—C= N— (41). In addition, imidazol and its derivatives catalyze the hydrolysis of certain esters, especially those derived from phenols (42). Likewise, the behavior of imidazol towards thio esters reflects exactly the specificity of ChE s (see IV, 4). Thus, thiol esters are split (43), whereas thiono esters are resistant (21). 

Polyketides are made by the sequential activity of domains of large, multifunctional enzymes called polyketide synthases (PKSs) (Fig. 6a and b). Polyketides are formed by the condensation and modification of acyl units derived from acyl-CoA precursors. Domains are organized in modules and each module carries out the series of steps necessary for one cycle of polyketide chain elongation. A single protein can have more than one module, and several different proteins together can make up a PKS. The number of modules determines the size of the polyketide. A growing polyketide chain is tethered to the enzyme as a thiol ester and moves sequentially from the N- to the C-terminus of a module, lengthened by two carbon units per module. The first module in a PKS... 

Table 6.1 lists the water-soluble vitamins with their structures and coenzyme forms. Certain portions of the coenzymes are especially important in their biological activities, and they are indicated by arrows. For example, in case of coenzyme A, a thiol ester is formed between its -SH residue and the acyl group being transferred. And in the case of pyridoxal phosphate, its carbonyl residue forms a Schiff base with the amino group of the amino acid that is being decarboxylated. Fat-soluble vitamins (Table 6.2) are also transformed into biologically active substances. However, with the possible exception of vitamin K, these do not operate as prosthetic groups or cosubstrates in specific enzyme reactions. 

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