Enzymatic synthesis of structural analogs of PAF-acether by phospholipase D-catalysed transphosphatidylation

PAF-acether can be transformed into analogs by the phospholipase D enzyme activity of Streptomyces sp. In this reaction choline is replaced by primary cyclic alcohols (acceptors). The reaction products, cyclic phospholipid and phosphatidic acid, were separated by silicic acid chromatography. This procedure enabled us to synthetize five analogs of PAF-acether, with a cyclic ring structure. The primary cyclic alcohols used in this work were: 3-(2-hydroxyethyl)-indol, OH-Et-I; 2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,4-benzodioxan, OH-Met-BZD; N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-phthalimide, OH-Et-PHT; 2-(2-thienyl)-ethanol, Th-EtOH; (1-R)-(-)-Nopol, R-NOP.