1812-64-2

Upstream product

• 25615-11-6 3-oxo-hop-22⁽²⁹⁾-ene 
• 1721-59-1 hopan-22-ol 
• 111-02-4 2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyltetracosa-2,6,10,14,18,22-hexaene 
• 33985-40-9 (3aR,4S,6R,6aR)-tetrahydro-6-methoxy-2,2-dimethylfuro-[3,4-d][1,3]dioxole-4-carbaldehyde 
• 111-02-4 squalene 
• 1253-69-6 isoadiantone 
• 1981-81-3 hydroxyhopanone 
• 863398-02-1 (4S,5R)-4-Benzyloxymethyl-2,2-dimethyl-5-(R)-oxiranyl-[1,3]dioxolane 
• 1721-59-1 hydroxyisohopane 

Downstream Products

• 120446-13-1 hopyltriphenylphosphonium iodide 
• 3258-87-5 17β(H),21α(H)-30-norhopane 
• 1172-78-7 22,29,30-trinor(17αH)-hopan-21-one 
• 54352-47-5 30-Normoretan-22-one 
• 34620-75-2 dryocrassol 

Relevant academic research and scientific papers

New cyclization mechanism for squalene: A ring-expansion step for the five-membered C-ring intermediate in hopene biosynthesis

Three triterpenes having the 6/6/5-fused tri- and 6/6/6/5-fused tetracyclic skeletons were isolated from an incubation mixture of the mutated F601A enzyme, these products being in accordance with a Markovnikov closure. Successful trapping of the tricyclic

Characterization of Radical SAM Adenosylhopane Synthase, HpnH, which Catalyzes the 5′-Deoxyadenosyl Radical Addition to Diploptene in the Biosynthesis of C35 Bacteriohopanepolyols

Adenosylhopane is a crucial intermediate in the biosynthesis of bacteriohopanepolyols, which are widespread prokaryotic membrane lipids. Herein, it is demonstrated that reconstituted HpnH, a putative radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme, commonly encoded in the hopanoid biosynthetic gene cluster, converts diploptene into adenosylhopane in the presence of SAM, flavodoxin, flavodoxin reductase, and NADPH. NMR spectra of the enzymatic reaction product were identical to those of synthetic (22R)-adenosylhopane, indicating that HpnH catalyzes stereoselective C?C formation between C29 of diploptene and C5′ of 5′-deoxyadenosine. Further, the HpnH reaction in D2O-containing buffer revealed that a D atom was incorporated at the C22 position of adenosylhopane. Based on these results, we propose a radical addition reaction mechanism catalyzed by HpnH for the formation of the C35 bacteriohopane skeleton.

Radical SAM-Dependent Adenosylation Involved in Bacteriohopanepolyol Biosynthesis?

Bacteriohopanepolyols are a group of triterpenoids that play important roles in regulating bacterial cell membrane function. As an intermediate in bacteriohopanepolyol biosynthesis, adenosylhopane production is related to a putative Fe-S protein HpnH, but the exact role of this enzyme remains unsolved. Here we report characterization of HpnH as a novel radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) superfamily enzyme. In contrast to almost all the members in the superfamily, HpnH does not initiate the reaction by a hydrogen atom abstraction process. Instead, it catalyzes the adenosylation of hopene via a radical addition reaction to produce adenosylhopane, representing the second example of radical SAM-dependent adenosylation involved in natural product biosynthesis.

Squalene-Hopene Cyclase: Mechanistic Insights into the Polycyclization Cascades of Squalene Analogs Bearing Ethyl and Hydroxymethyl Groups at the C-2 and C-23 Positions

Squalene-hopene cyclase (SHC) catalyzes the conversion of squalene 1 into 6,6,6,6,5-fused pentacyclic hopene 2 and hopanol 3. To elucidate the binding sites for the terminal positions of 1, four analogs, having the larger ethyl (Et) and the hydrophilic CH2OH groups at the 23E or 23Z positions of 1, were incubated with SHC. The analog with the Et group at the 23E position (23E-Et-1) yielded two tetra- and three pentacyclic products; however, the analog possessing the Et group at the 23Z position (23Z-Et-1) gave two hopene homologs and the neohopane skeleton, but no hopanol homologs. Hopene homolog (C31) was generated from 23E-Et-1 by deprotonation from 23Z-Me (normal cyclization cascade). Intriguingly, the same homolog was also generated from the geometrical isomer 23Z-Et-1, indicating C?C bond rotation about the C-21?C-22 axis of the hopanyl cation and the more compact nature of the binding domain at 23Z compared with 23E. On the other hand, analogs with the CH2OH group gave novel hopane skeletons having 1-formylethyl and 1-hydroxyprop-2-en-2-yl residues at C-21. Products bearing an aldehyde group were generated in higher yield from 23Z-CH2OH-1 (89 %), than from 23E-CH2OH-1 (26 %). The significant yield (26 %) of the aldehyde products from 23E-CH2OH-1 indicated that C?C bond rotation had occurred owing to the absence of hydrophobic interactions between the hydrophilic 23E-CH2OH and its binding site. The polycyclization mechanisms of the four different analogs are discussed.

Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius Squalene-Hopene Cyclase: The Critical Role of Steric Bulk at Ala306 and the First Enzymatic Synthesis of Epoxydammarane from 2,3-Oxidosqualene

The acyclic molecule squalene (1) is cyclized into 6,6,6,6,5-fused pentacyclic hopene (2) and hopanol (3; ca. 5:1) through the action of Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius squalene-hopene cyclase (AaSHC). The polycyclization reaction proceeds with regio- and stereochemical specificity under precise enzymatic control. This pentacyclic hopane skeleton is generated by folding 1 into an all-chair conformation. The Ala306 residue in AaSHC is conserved in known squalene-hopene cyclases (SHCs); however, increasing the steric bulk (A306T and A306V) led to the accumulation of 6,6,6,5-fused tetracyclic scaffolds possessing 20R stereochemistry in high yield (94 % for A306V). The production of the 20R configuration indicated that 1 had been folded in a chair-chair-chair-boat conformation; in contrast, the normal chair-chair-chair-chair conformation affords the tetracycle with 20S stereochemistry, but the yield produced by the A306V mutant was very low (6 %). Consequently, bulk at position 306 significantly affects the stereochemical fate during the polycyclization reaction. The SHC also accepts (3R) and (3S)-2,3-oxidosqualenes (OXSQs) to generate 3α,β-hydroxyhopenes and 3α,β-hydroxyhopanols through polycyclization initiated at the epoxide ring. However, the Val and Thr mutants generated epoxydammarane scaffolds from (3R)-OXSQ; this indicated that the polycyclization cascade started in these instances at the terminal double bond position. This work is the first to report the polycyclization of oxidosqualene starting at the terminal double bond.

Entropy is key to the formation of pentacyclic terpenoids by enzyme-catalyzed polycyclization

Polycyclizations constitute a cornerstone of chemistry and biology. Multicyclic scaffolds are generated by terpene cyclase enzymes in nature through a carbocationic polycyclization cascade of a prefolded polyisoprene backbone, for which electrostatic stabilization of transient carbocationic species is believed to drive catalysis. Computational studies and site-directed mutagenesis were used to assess the contribution of entropy to the polycyclization cascade catalyzed by the triterpene cyclase from A. acidocaldarius. Our results show that entropy contributes significantly to the rate enhancement through the release of water molecules through specific channels. A single rational point mutation that results in the disruption of one of these water channels decreased the entropic contribution to catalysis by 60 kcalmol-1. This work demonstrates that entropy is the key to enzyme-catalyzed polycyclizations, which are highly relevant in biology since 90% of all natural products contain a cyclic subunit.

Substrate specificity of a novel squalene-hopene cyclase from Zymomonas mobilis

Squalene-hopene cyclases (SHC; EC 5.4.99.17) catalyze the cyclization of triterpenoids via cationic intermediates in one of the most complex reactions known in biochemistry. In this study, we report the functional expression of a novel SHC from the ethanol producing bacterium Zymomonas mobilis (ZmoSHC1; YP-163283.1). Biochemical characterization of ZmoSHC1 uncovered unique substrate activity patterns compared to the previously reported AacSHC from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius and ZmoSHC2, the second squalene-hopene cyclase from Z. mobilis. ZmoSHC1 showed cyclization of the non-natural substrates homofarnesol (C16) and citronellal (C10) in addition to hopene formation from squalene (C30). Moreover, ZmoSHC1 turned out to reveal high biocatalytic stability during long-term incubations. Remarkably, ZmoSHC1 exhibited a shift of activity towards substrates of shorter chain lengths, displaying over 50-fold higher conversion of homofarnesol and more than 2-fold higher conversion of citronellal in comparison to squalene conversion.

Bifunctional triterpene/sesquarterpene cyclase: Tetraprenyl-β- curcumene cyclase is also squalene cyclase in bacillus megaterium

This study demonstrates that a tetraprenyl-β-curcumene cyclase, which was originally identified as a sesquarterpene cyclase that converts a head-to-tail type of monocycle to a pentacycle, also cyclizes a tail-to-tail type of linear squalene into a bicyclic triterpenol, 8α-hydroxypolypoda- 13,17,21-triene. The 8α-hydroxypolypoda-13,17,21-triene was found to be a natural triterpene from B. megaterium. It was also demonstrated that cyclizations of both tetraprenyl-β-curcumene and squalene occurred with a purified B. megaterium TC homologue in the same reaction mixture. These results suggest that the tetraprenyl-β-curcumene cyclase is bifunctional, cyclizing both tetraprenyl-β-curcumene and squalene in vivo. This is the first report describing a bifunctional terpene cyclase, which biosynthesizes two classes of cyclic terpenes with different numbers of carbons as natural products in the organism.

Complex biohopanoids synthesis: Efficient anchoring of ribosyl subunits onto a C30 hopane

Bacteriohopanoids represent a particularly important series of triterpenoids, widely distributed in bacteria. One of the common features of these pentacyclic hopanepolyols is the presence of an extended non-terpenoid and polyhydroxylated side chain attached to the triterpenic moiety through a C-C bond. The biological function of biohopanoids also has to be addressed when one considers the broad diversity in both structures and functionalities found in the side chain. Moreover, the stereochemistries of some biohopanoids are still unconfirmed, due to the lack of synthetic methods to prepare them. In this study we describe an efficient methodology for the formation of the C-C bond between the C30-hopane component and C5-polyhydroxylated carbohydrates through the use of a hopanyllithium intermediate, which has enabled us to synthesize several biohopanoid derivatives. We also report the first synthesis of hopanepentol bearing an additional hydroxy group at position C31.

Cation-π interaction in the polyolefin cyclization cascade uncovered by incorporating unnatural amino acids into the catalytic sites of squalene cyclase

It has been assumed that the π-electrons of aromatic residues in the catalytic sites of triterpene cyclases stabilize the cationic intermediates formed during the polycyclization cascade of squalene or oxidosqualene, but no definitive experimental evidence has been given. To validate this cation-π interaction, natural and unnatural aromatic amino acids were site-specifically incorporated into squalene-hopene cyclase (SHC) from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius and the kinetic data of the mutants were compared with that of the wild-type SHC. The catalytic sites of Phe365 and Phe605 were substituted with O-methyltyrosine, tyrosine, and tryptophan, which have higher cation-π binding energies than phenylalanine. These replacements actually increased the SHC activity at low temperature, but decreased the activity at high temperature, as compared with the wild-type SHC. This decreased activity is due to the disorganization of the protein architecture caused by the introduction of the amino acids more bulky than phenylalanine. Then, mono-, di-, and trifluorophenylalanines were incorporated at positions 365 and 605; these amino acids reduce cation-π binding energies but have van der Waals radii similar to that of phenylalanine. The activities of the SHC variants with fluorophenylalanines were found to be inversely proportional to the number of the fluorine atoms on the aromatic ring and clearly correlated with the cation-π binding energies of the ring moiety. No serious structural alteration was observed for these variants even at high temperature. These results unambiguously show that the π-electron density of residues 365 and 605 has a crucial role for the efficient polycyclization reaction by SHC. This is the first report to demonstrate experimentally the involvement of cation-π interaction in triterpene biosynthesis.