Zur Chemie der Pyrrolpigmente, 54. Mitt.: Phytochrommodellstudien: Ein 2,3-Dihydrobilatrien-abc-3-Cholesterylderivat

The diastereomeric 2,3-Dihydrobilatrienes-abc derivatives (4Z, 9Z, 15Z)-7 and (4Z, 9Z, 15E)-7 bearing a cholesterylacetate moiety in position 3 of the chromophore are prepared. The reaction sequence contains an isomerisation step providing quantitative enantioselective formation of the chiral center in position 3. Configurations and conformations of the diastereomers are elucidated using¹H- and¹³C-NMR spectra, NOE-difference spectra, 2D-NMR experiments (NOESY) and arguments from UV-VIS and CD data. It is concluded that the hydrophobic interactions between chromophore and cholesteryl-fragment yield a compact conformation where the two substructures are in close contact with each other. On the other hand these interactions seem to be too weak to induce significant changes in the chemistry, absorption spectra and conformational characterics of the bile pigment chromophore. Therefore hydrophobic interactions between chromophor and apolar amino acid residues of the protein in phytochrome should be of minor relevance for determining spectroscopic shifts.