Two thioester

Step 4 of Figure 29.3 Chain Cleavage Acetyl CoA is split off from the chain in the final step of /3-oxidation, leaving an acyl CoA that is two carbon atoms shorter than the original. The reaction is catalyzed by /3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase and is mechanistically the reverse of a Claisen condensation reaction (Section 23.7). In the forward direction, a Claisen condensation joins two esters together to form a /3-keto ester product. In the reverse direction, a retro-Claisen reaction splits a /3-keto ester (or /3-keto thioester) apart to form two esters (or two thioesters). 

RA Morrison, KJ Kripalani, AM Marino, AV Dean, BH Migdalof, SH Weinstein, NB Jain, MS Bathala, SM Singhivi. Intestinal absorption of captopril and two thioester analogs in rats and dogs. Biopharm Drug Dispos 18 25-39, 1997. 

This is a Claisen-like condensation, that is, two thioesters condense to form a 3 keto thioester. (Recall that a thioester is the sulfur analog of esters ... 

Using a convergent method of molecular alligator clip formation and attachment, the two thioesters 59 and 60 were synthesized. The aryl iodide 59 can be coupled to the alkynyl end (head) of the oligomers while the alkynyl arene 60 can be coupled to the aryl iodide end (tail) of the oligomers. Of... 

There are two sequences in which the reaction can be carried out. For most anilines the first step is /V-chlorination which can be done with t-butyl hypochlorite[9]. However, for anilines with ER substituents it may be preferable to halogenate the thioester. The halogenation can be done with Cl2[lbl or SOjCljCU]. For some anilines simply adding f-butyl hypochlorite to a mixture of the aniline and thioester is satisfactory (Entries 1, 4, Table 7.6). 

FIGURE 25.32 A reaction mechanism for HMGCoA reductase. Two successive NADPH-dependent reductions convert the thioester, HMGCoA, to a primary alcohol. 

It is not at all obvious why esters should have lower energies than thioesters. It is generally observed that SH bonds are about. 03 au (20 kcal/mol) weaker than OH bonds. Given this, which bond must be stronger, S-CO or O-CO Estimate the difference in bond energies between the two ... 

The assumed transition state for this reaction is shown in Scheme 5.5. The two bulky t-butoxy groups are expected to locate at the two apical positions. One of the 3,3 -phenyl groups would effectively shield one face of an imine, and consequently, a diene attacks from the opposite side. Judging from this model, similar selectivities were expected in the Mannich-type reactions of imines with silyl eno-lates. Actually, when ligand 10 was used in the reaction of imine la with S-ethyl-thio-l-trimethylsiloxyethene, the corresponding / -amino thioester was obtained in 84% ee (Scheme 5.6). As expected, the sense of the chiral induction in this case was the reverse of that observed when using catalyst 6 [12, 25]. 

Acyl CoA s, such as acetyl CoA, are the most common thioesters in nature. Coenzyme A, abbreviated CoA, is a thiol formed by a phosphoric anhydride linkage (0 = P—O—P=0) between phosphopantetheine and adenosine 3, 5 -bisphosphate. (The prefix "bis" means "two" and indicates that adenosine 3, 5 -bisphosphate has two phosphate groups, one on C3 and one on C5. ) Reaction of coenzyme A with an acyl phosphate or acyl adenylate... 

Step 1 of Figure 29.3 Introduction of a Double Bond The /3-oxidation pathway begins when a fait)7 acid forms a thioester with coenzyme A to give a fatty acyl Co A. Two hydrogen atoms are then removed from C2 and C3 of the fatty acyl CoA by one of a family of acyl-CoA dehydrogenases to yield an a,/3-unsaturated acyl CoA. This kind of oxidation—the introduction of a conjugated double bond into a carbonyl compound—occurs frequently jn biochemical pathways and usually involves the coenzyme flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Reduced FADH2 is the by-product. 

The initial stages of catabolism result in the conversion of both fats and carbohydrates into acetyl groups that are bonded through a thioester link to coenzyme A. Acetyl CoA then enters the next stage of catabolism—the citric acid cycle, also called the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, or Krebs tycle, after Hans Krebs, who unraveled its complexities in 1937. The overall result of the cycle is the conversion of an acetyl group into two molecules of C02 plus reduced coenzymes by the eight-step sequence of reactions shown in Figure 29.12. 

For example, the racemic thioester 57 was placed in contact with a certain optically active amide. After 28 days the solution contained 89% of one enantiomer and 11% of the other. To effect the deracemization two conditions are necessary (1) the enantiomers must complex differently with... 

Carboxylic acids such as acetic acid react with alcohols such as methanol or with methoxytrimethylsilane 13 a in the presence of trimethylchlorosilane (TCS) 14 in THF or 2-methyl-THF to give esters such as methyl acetate in 97% yield and hex-amethyldisiloxane 7. Even methyl pivalate can be readily prepared in 91% yield [111]. Reaction of a variety of carboxylic acids, for example N-benzoylglycine 329, with two equivalents of yS-trimethylsilylethanol 330 and with 14 has been shown to afford esters such as 331 in 98% yield [112, 112 a]. Likewise, silylated carboxylic acids react with silylated alcohols or thiophenols in the presence of 4-trifluoro-methylbenzoic anhydride and TiCl4/AgCl04 to furnish esters or thioesters in high yields [113, 114] (Scheme 4.43). 

A superspiral consisting of two spirals (coiled coil), known as the leucine zip, is formed in this sequence via dimerisation. The condensation reaction, carried out in the aqueous phase, involves two peptide fragments which contain 15 and 17 amino acid residues respectively. Activation takes place via thioester formation (see Sect. 5.3.1). The ligation to a complete GCN4 matrix gives a new 32 amino acid peptide, which can itself serve as a matrix. The autocatalytic reaction exhibits a parabolic increase in the peptide concentration (caused by product inhibition see Section 6.4). 

How could this problem be solved Only traces of thioesters are formed from free carboxylic acid and thiols in aqueous solution, i.e., the equilibrium reaction 7.15 is shifted to the left. According to de Duve (1991), there are two possibilities for spontaneous thioester synthesis under conditions present on the primeval Earth ... 

Fig. 7.8 Two examples of important reactions in the thioester world a the phosphorolysis of thioesters leads to acylphosphates and b a-ketoadds are formed in the reductive cleavage of thioesters with accompanying carbonylation (de Duve, 1991)...

Specific chain length fatty acids could be produced in two ways. One is through the action of a thioester hydrolase that interacts with fatty acid synthetase to produce fatty acids shorter in length. Aphids produce myristic acid (14 carbons) and a specific thioester hydrolase releases the fatty acid from fatty acid synthetase after 6 additions of malonyl-CoA. If the hydrolase is not present then the fatty acid synthetase produces stearic acid [27]. A specific thioester hydrolase was ruled out in the biosynthesis of moth sex pheromones because labeling studies showed that longer chain length fatty acids were incorporated into shorter chain length pheromone components [22,28]. 

Native chemical ligation has been used successfully to couple two unprotected peptides together during solid phase synthesis, wherein one of the peptides is attached to the resin using a thioester linkage and the other peptide is introduced containing a cysteine at its N-terminal... 

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