植物天然化合物的人工合成之路

植物天然化合物及其衍生物是药物、保健品和食品添加剂等产品开发的源泉.新兴的合成生物学技术通过在微生物底盘细胞中重构与优化天然化合物的生物合成途径,实现目标化合物的从头合成,为结构复杂的珍稀植物天然化合物的规模化制备提供了新策略.介绍了青蒿素、人参皂苷、吗啡类生物碱、紫杉醇和长春花碱等重要植物天然化合物人工合成的研究进展.这些研究实例,不仅彰显了合成生物学及其与合成化学的结合在植物天然化合物人工合成方面的巨大应用潜力,也指明了未来植物天然化合物从头合成技术研发的导向.合成生物学与合成化学领域的新技术研发将进一步推动复杂天然化合物的生物合成途径解析、生物元件的挖掘与表征、新型底盘细胞的设计和开发以及生物合成与化学合成的强-强联合等方面的研究,助力天然化合物的人工合成技术从实验室走向市场.     

基于基因组挖掘的一个新的吡嗪酮类天然产物的发现

采用次级代谢产物基因组挖掘的方法,扫描链霉菌Streptomyces sp.TP-A0365的基因组序列,找到一个新的负责吡嗪酮类天然产物生物合成的非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPS)编码基因.通过敲除该NRPS基因中断相关化合物的生物合成途径,对比突变菌株和原始菌株(来源于链霉菌Streptomyces sp.TP-A0365的工程菌株TG1301)的发酵产物,我们在原始菌株的发酵粗提液中捕捉到了突变株不再产生的化合物1.从原始菌株20 L发酵液中分离并鉴定了化合物1的化学结构,其结构为3-异丙基-7,8-二氢吡咯并[1,2-a]吡嗪-4(6H)-酮,是一个新的吡嗪酮类化合物,命名为provalin.     

Cudratricusxanthone B的全合成

以价廉易得的2,4-二羟基苯甲酸为起始原料,通过Claisen重排和选择性脱甲基等8步反应,以3.1%的总收率首次完成了具有生物活性的异戊烯基氧杂蒽酮类天然产物cudratricusxanthone B(1)的全合成,为该化合物进一步的生物活性研究奠定了物质基础.同时还合成得到另一氧杂蒽酮化合物2,证实文献报道的氧杂蒽酮类天然产物staudtiixanthone D结构鉴定有误.     

天然活性吡咯烷-2,4-二酮类化合物研究进展

吡咯烷-2,4-二酮类化合物广泛存在于陆上及海洋生物中,其复杂多变的分子结构和广谱独特的生物活性引起人们的极大关注.结合本研究组在这一邻域的工作综述了天然吡咯烷-2,4-二酮类化合物的结构、生物活性,重点介绍此类化合物的全合成等方面的新进展.     

石松生物碱集成合成的研究进展

鉴于同一家族天然产物在化学结构和生物合成途径上的相关性,2011年Mac Millan等提出利用相同或相似的关键中间体快速高效合成天然产物家族化合物的集成合成策略,近年来该策略被应用于多个家族天然产物的合成中.石松生物碱是一类结构奇特且复杂多样的生物碱,部分成员化合物表现出良好的生物活性.综述了国内外有机合成化学家对石松生物碱家族化合物的集成合成研究进展.     

八十年代海洋天然有机化学的进展

八十年代以来,海洋天然有机化学仍然继续发展,大量新的化合物,尤其是具有生理活性的化合物不断出现,海洋天然物的生物合成和人工合成研究也有新的进展。在海洋生物中,研究得最多的是海藻和海绵,其次便是珊瑚。     

放线菌来源生物碱的生物合成机制

生物碱类天然产物通常具有复杂多样的化学结构和广泛的生物活性,因此备受生物学、化学、药学领域研究者的关注。微生物是仅次于植物的生物碱类天然产物重要来源,微生物尤其是放线菌产生的众多次生代谢产物中,也包括很多生物碱。对放线菌来源生物碱的骨架结构和药效基团生物合成研究,不仅能够丰富人们对天然产物结构形成原理的理解,还可以为运用合成生物学技术人工合成此类化合物提供重要的遗传元件。本文从模块化生物合成和非模块化生物合成两种方式,综述放线菌来源生物碱的生物合成基因簇、途径及其酶催化反应过程。     

1-茚满酮合成方法研究进展

1-茚满酮类化合物是许多药物和天然产物合成中的中间体, 有关这类化合物的合成方法仍然不断得到更新. 按照关环位点对于这些合成方法进行了综述, 着重介绍了2000以来的合成新进展.     

玉米秸秆纤维素在亚/超临界乙醇中液化生成酮类化合物的机理探讨

利用间歇式高压反应釜,在反应温度320℃、反应时间60 min条件下,研究乙醇用量对玉米秸秆纤维素液化生成酮类化合物的作用。当乙醇添加量为0时,酮类化合物的产率仅为1.25%。随着乙醇用量由0增加到160 mL,生物油产率不断的升高,酮类化合物产率增加至18.38%,乙醇促进了纤维素液化生成酮类化合物。利用GC/MS和FT-IR对生物油进行了定性分析,结果表明,在亚/超临界乙醇中,酮类化合物主要通过三条路径形成,纤维素脱水形成了含-C=O的活性纤维素,活性纤维素按逆Diels-Alder机理进行开环、脱水、异构化形成了4-羟基-4-甲基-2-戊酮等脂肪族酮类化合物;在乙醇自由基作用下,活性纤维素中C-O-C、C-C等键断裂、开环,形成环戊烯酮等脂环族酮类化合物,环戊烯酮与多种中间产物发生缩合、酯化形成2-甲酸基-1-苯基乙酮等芳香族酮类化合物;在高浓度乙醇自由基作用下,芳香族酮类化合物进一步发生裂解形成酸类、酮类等化合物。根据对酮类化合物生成机理的分析,建立了纤维素在亚/超临界乙醇中液化生成酮类化合物的反应网络。     

云南山竹子中的一个新奇的苯甲酮类化合物

多异戊烯基取代的苯甲酮类化合物存在于多种藤黄科植物中, 具有多种显著的生物活性. 为了进一步发现生物活性成分, 对藤黄科藤黄属植物云南山竹子的枝条和果实进行了研究, 从中分离得到了两个多异戊烯基取代的苯甲酮类化合物, 其中一个为新化合物. 经多种波谱方法确定了两个化合物的化学结构, 一个新化合物命名为藤黄酮K, 另一个化合物为Cambogin.     

Expanding the scope of aromatic polyketides by combinatorial biosynthesis

Combinatorial biosynthesis is a technology for mixing genes responsible for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, in order to generate products for compound libraries serendipitously or to cause desired modifications to natural products. Both of these approaches are extremely useful in drug discovery. Streptomyces and related species are abundant in bioactive secondary metabolites and were therefore the first microbes to be used for combinatorial biosynthesis. Polyketides are the most abundant medicinal agents among natural products. Structural diversity and a wide scope of bioactivities are typical of the group. However, the common feature of polyketides is a biosynthetic process from simple carboxylic acid residues. In molecular genetics, polyketides are sub-classified as types I and II, called modular and aromatic polyketides respectively. The best-known bioactivities of aromatic polyketides are their antibacterial and antitumor effects. Genetic analysis of aromatic polyketides has resulted in almost 30 cloned and identified biosynthetic gene clusters. Several biosynthetic enzymes are flexible enough to allow their use in combinatorial biosynthesis to create high diversity compound libraries. This review describes the state of the art of combinatorial biosynthesis, giving anthracyclines as examples. Contiguous DNA sequences for antibiotics, cloned from four different anthracycline producers, provide tools for rapid lead optimization or other structural modification processes, and not only for anthracyclines. Two gene cassettes enabling fast and flexible structural modification of polyketides are introduced in this paper.     

Activation and Characterization of Cryptic Gene Cluster: Two Series of Aromatic Polyketides Biosynthesized by Divergent Pathways

One biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) usually governs the biosynthesis of a series of compounds exhibiting either the same or similar molecular scaffolds. Reported here is a multiplex activation strategy to awaken a cryptic BGC associated with tetracycline polyketides, resulting in the discovery of compounds having different core structures. By constitutively expressing a positive regulator gene in tandem mode, a single BGC directed the biosynthesis of eight aromatic polyketides with two types of frameworks, two pentacyclic isomers and six glycosylated tetracyclines. The proposed biosynthetic pathway, based on systematic gene inactivation and identification of intermediates, employs two sets of tailoring enzymes with a branching point from the same intermediate. These findings not only provide new insights into the role of tailoring enzymes in the diversification of polyketides, but also highlight a reliable strategy for genome mining of natural products.     

Exploring the biosynthetic potential of bimodular aromatic polyketide synthases

Polycyclic aromatic polyketides such as actinorhodin and tetracenomycin are synthesized from acetate equivalents by type II polyketide synthases (PKS). Their carbon chain backbones are derived from malonyl-CoA building blocks through the action of a minimal PKS module consisting of a ketosynthase, a chain length factor, an acyl carrier protein (ACP) and a malonyl-CoA/ACP transacylase. In contrast to these acetogenic polyketides, the backbones of a few aromatic polyketide natural products, such as the R1128 antibiotics, are primed by non-acetate building blocks. These polyketides are synthesized by bimodular PKSs comprising of a dedicated initiation module, which includes a ketosynthase, acyl transferase and ACP, as well as a minimal PKS module. Recently we showed that regioselectively modified polyketides could be synthesized through the genetic recombination of initiation modules and minimal PKS modules from different polyketide biosynthetic pathways (Tang et al. PLoS Biol. 2004, 2, 227-238). For example, the actinorhodin and tetracenomycin minimal PKSs could accept and elongate unnatural primer units from the R1128 initiation module. In this report we provide further examples of using heterologous bimodular PKSs for the engineered biosynthesis of new aromatic polyketides. In addition to providing insights into the biosynthetic mechanisms of aromatic PKSs, our findings also highlight considerable potential for crosstalk between amino acid catabolism and aromatic polyketide biosynthesis. For example, exogenously supplied unnatural amino acids are efficiently incorporated into bioactive anthraquinone antibiotics.     

Fusopoltides B–E,new polyketides isolated from Fusarium solani B-18

Four new polyketides, fusopoltides B–E, were isolated, along with four known compounds, from Fusarium solani B-18 cultured on brown-rice. Fusopoltide B is a diastereomer of its co-isolated known compound, fusopoltide A, featuring a pentaleno[1,2-c]pyran ring system. Fusopoltide C and fusopoltides D–E are incorporated the first natural polyketides featured decahydro-pentaleno[1,2-c]pyran and pentaleno[1,2-c]furan ring systems, respectively. The structural assignments were established using comprehensive spectroscopic techniques, the modified Mosher's ester method, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations.     

多环型Xanthone类天然产物的合成研究进展

多环型xanthone类天然产物是一类具有高度氧化态和六环骨架结构的天然产物.目前分离得到的此类化合物主要来源于放线菌.由于这类化合物具有结构特独、广泛的抗细菌活性、一定程度的抗真菌活性以及良好的抗肿瘤活性,吸引了大量有机合成和药物化学等领域学者的关注.近十年来,相关的生物和化学合成以及药物化学研究报道明显增多,主要总结了多环型xanthone类天然产物的合成研究进展.     

Precursor-Directed Biosynthesis of Aminofulvenes: New Chalanilines from Endophytic Fungus Chalara sp.

The plant endophyte Chalara sp. is able to biotransform the epigenetic modifier vorinostat to form unique, aniline-containing polyketides named chalanilines. Here, we sought to expand the chemical diversity of chalaniline A-type molecules by changing the aniline moiety in the precursor vorinostat. In total, twenty-three different vorinostat analogs were prepared via two-step synthesis, and nineteen were incorporated by the fungus into polyketides. The highest yielding substrates were selected for large-scale precursor-directed biosynthesis and five novel compounds, including two fluorinated chalanilines, were isolated, purified, and structurally characterized. Structure elucidation relied on 1D and 2D NMR techniques and was supported by low- and high-resolution mass spectrometry. All compounds were tested for their bioactivity but were not active in antimicrobial or cell viability assays. Aminofulvene-containing natural products are rare, and this high-yielding, precursor-directed process allows for the diversification of this class of compounds.     

Polyketide stereotetrads in natural products

Natural products (or secondary metabolites) remain as the most important source for discovery of new and potential drug molecules. With high resolution data of their structures, and the advancement of synthesis possibilities, analysis of the natural products based on their specific structural features is valuable to those entering the field. In this tutorial review we attempt such an analysis indicating the salient features of the structural classes with examples of the synthesis of each one of them. As the particular class of natural products, we have chosen polyketides.     

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Cylindrocyclophanes A and F and Merocyclophanes A and D

Incorporating enzymatic reactions into natural product synthesis can significantly improve synthetic efficiency and selectivity. In contrast to the increasing applications of biocatalytic functional-group interconversions, the use of enzymatic C−C bond formation reactions in natural product synthesis is underexplored. Herein, we report a concise and efficient approach for the synthesis of [7.7]paracyclophane natural products, a family of polyketides with diverse biological activities. By using enzymatic Friedel–Crafts alkylation, cylindrocyclophanes A and F and merocyclophanes A and D were synthesized in six to eight steps in the longest linear sequence. This study demonstrates the power of combining enzymatic reactions with contemporary synthetic methodologies and provides opportunities for the structure–activity relationship studies of [7.7]paracyclophane natural products.     

Total Synthesis of Myceliothermophins C,D, and E

The total synthesis of cytotoxic polyketides myceliothermophins E ( 1 ), C ( 2 ), and D ( 3 ) through a cascade‐based cyclization to form the trans‐fused decalin system is described. The convergent synthesis delivered all three natural products through late‐stage divergence and facilitated unambiguous C21 structural assignments for 2 and 3 through X‐ray crystallographic analysis, which revealed an interesting dimeric structure between its enantiomeric forms.     

Total Synthesis of Myceliothermophins C,D, and E

The total synthesis of cytotoxic polyketides myceliothermophins E ( 1 ), C ( 2 ), and D ( 3 ) through a cascade‐based cyclization to form the trans‐fused decalin system is described. The convergent synthesis delivered all three natural products through late‐stage divergence and facilitated unambiguous C21 structural assignments for 2 and 3 through X‐ray crystallographic analysis, which revealed an interesting dimeric structure between its enantiomeric forms.