Triterpenoids squalene

Cycloartenol is an important type of stanol found in plants. The biosynthesis of cycloartenol starts from the triterpenoid squalene. It is the first precursor in the biosynthesis of other stanols and sterols, referred to as phytostanols and phytosterols in photosynthetic organisms and plants. The identities and distribution of phytostanols and phytosterols is characteristic of a plant species. One notable product of cycloartenol biosynthesis is the triterpenoid lanosterol. 

The junction between isoprene units is not random, but most often is formed through the so-called head-to-tail coupling as shown in Fig. 8.1. In certain cases, a tail-to-tail coupling occurs, also shown in Fig. 8.1. This coupling is a characteristic feature of the central coupling used to form the carotenoids and the triterpenoid squalene (2) (Fig. 8.3) which is the precursor for the steroids. The explanation of the coupling systems hes in the biosynthesis as described in Figs. 8.3 and 8.4. 

Farnesol pyrophosphate is an immediate precursor of squalene, the key intermediate in steroid and triterpenoid biogenesis, which arises from the coupling of two farnesol pyrophosphate molecules or of C,s units derived therefrom. The numerous types of sesquiter-penoid carbon skeletons represent various modes of cyclization of farnesol (sometimes with rearrangement) and it is probable that farnesol pyrophosphate is also the source of these compounds. 

Steroids are heavily modified triterpenoids that are biosynthesized in living organisms from farnesyl diphosphate (Cl5) by a reductive dimerization to the acyclic hydrocarbon squalene (C30), which is converted into lanosterol (Figure 27.12). Further rearrangements and degradations then take place to yield various steroids. The conversion of squalene to lanosterol is among the most... 

The biomimetic approach to total synthesis draws inspiration from the enzyme-catalyzed conversion of squalene oxide (2) to lanosterol (3) (through polyolefinic cyclization and subsequent rearrangement), a biosynthetic precursor of cholesterol, and the related conversion of squalene oxide (2) to the plant triterpenoid dammaradienol (4) (see Scheme la).3 The dramatic productivity of these enzyme-mediated transformations is obvious in one impressive step, squalene oxide (2), a molecule harboring only a single asymmetric carbon atom, is converted into a stereochemically complex polycyclic framework in a manner that is stereospecific. In both cases, four carbocyclic rings are created at the expense of a single oxirane ring. 

The tetracyclic alcohol 179 is produced by the action of boron trifluoride etherate or tin(IV) chloride on the oxirane 178 (equation 85)95. A similar cyclization of the oxirane 180 yields DL-<5-amyrin (181) (equation 86)96. In the SnCLt-catalysed ring-closure of the tetraene 182 to the all-fraws-tetracycle 183 (equation 87) seven asymmetric centres are created, yet only two of sixty-four possible racemates are formed97. It has been proposed that multiple ring-closures of this kind form the basis of the biosynthesis of steroids and tetra-and pentacyclic triterpenoids, the Stork-Eschenmoser hypothesis 98,99. Such biomimetic polyene cyclizations, e.g. the formation of lanosterol from squalene (equation 88), have been reviewed69,70. 

Currently there is no experimentally determined three-dimensional structural information available for OSCs, although studies with a related enzyme, squa-lene-hopene cyclase (SC EC 5.4.99.7) have proved informative. SCs are involved in the direct cyclisation of squalene to pentacyclic triterpenoids known as hopanoids, which play an integral role in membrane structure in prokaryotes [ 51 ]. A number of SC genes have been cloned from bacteria [52 - 54]. The SC and OSC enzymes have related predicted amino acid sequences, and so should have similar spatial structures [55]. The crystal structure of recombinant SC from the Gram-positive bacterium Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius has established that the enzyme is dimeric [55]. Each subunit consists of two a-a barrel domains that assemble to form a central hydrophobic cavity [55,56]. 

In Tabernaemontana divaricata treatment of plant cell suspension cultures with an elicitor cause inhibition of CS activity [24,25]. This response is accompanied by stimulation of activity of constitutive enzyme activities of the isoprenoid pathway leading to 2,3-oxidosqualene (squalene synthase and squalene oxidase), and induction of enzymes required for biosynthesis of pentacyclic triterpenoid phytoalexins (/lAS and aAS). Thus inhibition of the branchpoint enzyme CS results in increased flux through the triterpenoid pathway. 

While squalene, the parent of all triterpenoids, is a linear acyclic compound, the majority of triterpeneoids exist in cyclic forms, penta- and tetracyclic triterpenes being the major types. Within these cyclic triterpenoids distinct structural variations lead to several structural classes of triterpenoids. Some of the major structures types of triterpenoids are shown helow. 

Squalene is an important biological precursor of many triterpenoids, one of which is cholesterol. The first step in the conversion of squalene to lanosterol is epoxidation of the 2,3-douhle bond of squalene. Acid-catalysed ring opening of the epoxide initiates a series of cyclizations, resulting in the formation of protesterol cation. Elimination of a C-9 proton leads to the 1,2-hydride and 1,2-methyl shifts, resulting in the formation of lanosterol, which in turn converted to cholesterol by enzymes in a series of 19 steps. 

Reactions at Saturated Carbons appear to mimic in principle the biogenetic conversion of squalene into polycyclic triterpenoids. This work has been well reviewed (85-87) and only a few representative examples will be described here. 

Cholesterol is a triterpenoid that has lost three (blue) carbon atoms from the original six isoprene units of squalene. Another carbon atom (red) has migrated to form the axial methyl group between rings C and D. 

Figure 25-13 shows that cholesterol is a triterpenoid, formed from six isoprene units with loss of three carbon atoms. The six isoprene units are bonded head to tail, with the exception of one tail-to-tail linkage. The triterpene precursor of cholesterol is believed to be squalene. We can envision an acid-catalyzed cyclization of squalene to give an intermediate that is later converted to cholesterol with loss of three carbon atoms. Possible mechanisms are outlined in Figures 14-6 and 14-7 (pages 651-652). 

In this context, Hoshino et al. have recently reported the cyclization of (3S)-2,3-oxidosqualene catalyzed by a Gly600-deletion mutant (AG600SHC) of the enzyme squalene-hopene cyclase (SHC) from Alicyclobacillus acidocal-darius (Scheme 31) [108]. The enzymatic biotransformation gave monocyclic (9) and tricyclic triterpenoids (38 and 44-47), but no detectable bicychc products [108]. Despite the authors biogenetic proposal of a conventional carbocationic pathway, the skeletal profile of products reported closely resembles that expected for a radical-type cyclization. 

Interestingly, /3,7-unsaturated a-diazoketones are also sources of cyclo-butanones when they are exposed to protic acid. For example, compound XI furnished XII in high yield upon contact with concentrated sulfuric acid (see Scheme 42.3). In a conceptually analogous reaction, /S.y-unsaturated a-diazoketones proved to be useful in the constmction of cyclopentanones XIV" in a polyolefinic cationic cyclization process reminiscent of the mechanism by which plants in nature build their polycyclic triterpenoid metabolites from squalene, that is, XV - XVI. 

Until recently it seemed that prokaryotic organisms (blue-green algae and bacteria) were unable to synthesize steroids or triterpenoids. Several reports, however, now indicate that this is not the case. Hop-22(29)-ene (128), squalene, and several 4,4-dimethyl-sterols have been identified in the bacterium Methylococcus capsulatus. Hop-22(29)-ene has also been isolated from an... 

Further work in the phylum Echinodermata shows a variable ability to biosynthesize steroids. In the class Holothuroidea and Echinoidea, the representatives examined could synthesize squalene but not triterpenoids or sterols from acetate. However, several examples from the class Asteroidea were able to synthesize squalene, lanosterol, and other steroids. In the later stages of steroid metabolism it was shown that cholesterol was converted into cholest-7-enol via cholestanol. 

These studies firmly establish the role of 2,3-epoxysqualene (32) as progenitor of the polycyclic triterpenoids and steroids. However, a number of triterpenoids lack an oxygen function at C(3). In these cases, it has been suggested that a plausible biogenesis mechanism would involve the proton-initiated cyclization of squalene rather than of the terminal epoxide. An alternative hypothesis... 

Although they are known to be synthesized by a wide variety of cultured aerobic bacteria there does not appear to be any obligate requirement for oxygen in their biosynthesis. The biosynthesis and cyclization of squalene to a pentacyclic triterpenoid with a hopane skeleton does not seem to require oxygen and, therefore, hopanoid synthesis might also be possible in anaerobes. For instance, analysis of microbial mats at methane seeps under anoxic Black Sea water revealed the presence of C-depleted (8 C = -lS%c) hopanoids with an unusual stereochemistry. This isotopic depletion indicates in situ production and, therefore, suggests that anaerobes are responsible (Thiel et ai, 2003). 

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