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Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Biosynthesis of tetrahydrofolate. Stereochemistry of dihydroneopterin aldolase
Victoria Illarionova1, Wolfgang Eisenreich, Markus Fischer
1Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, D-85747 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
7,8-Dihydroneopterin aldolase catalyzes the formation of the tetrahydrofolate precursor, 6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin, and is a potential target for antimicrobial and anti-parasite chemotherapy. The last step of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction is believed to involve the protonation of an enol type intermediate. In order to study the stereochemical course of that reaction step, [1',2',3',6,7-13C5]dihydroneopterin was treated with aldolase in deuterated buffer. The resulting, partially deuterated [6alpha,6,7-13C3]6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin was converted to partially deuterated 6-(R)-[6,7,9,11-13C4]5,10-methylenetetrahydropteroate by a sequence of three enzyme-catalyzed reactions followed by treatment with [13C]formaldehyde. The product was analyzed by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. The data show that the carbinol group of enzymatically formed 6-hydroxymethyl-dihydropterin contained 2H predominantly in the pro-S position.
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