Intramolecular cyclizations of polyketide biosynthesis: mining for a "Diels-Alderase"?

Despite the large number of naturally occurring metabolites existing for which enzymatic Diels-Alder reactions have been proposed as a key biosynthetic step, the actual number of enzymes thus far identified for these transformations is incredibly low. Even for those few enzymes identified, there is currently little biochemical or mechanistic evidence to support the label of a "Diels-Alderase." For several families of polyketide metabolites, the transformation in question introduces a rigid, cross-linked scaffold, leaving the remaining peripheral modifications and polyketide processing to provide the variation among the related metabolites. A detailed understanding of these modifications--how they are introduced and the tolerance of enzymes involved for alternate substrates--will strengthen biosynthetic engineering efforts toward related designer metabolites. This review addresses intramolecular cyclizations that appear to be consistent with enzymatic Diels-Alder transformations for which either the responsible enzyme has been identified or the respective biosynthetic gene cluster for the metabolite in question has been elucidated.

A modelling study of a non-concerted hydrolytic cycloaddition reaction by the catalytic antibody H11

H11 is the first antibody reported to have dual activity as a non-concerted, Diels-Alderase and hydrolytic catalyst. It was previously shown to catalyse the cycloaddition of acetoxybutadiene 1a to N-alkyl maleimides 2 to afford hydroxy-substituted bicyclic adducts 3 with a 30% ee of a major isomer. To better understand this mechanism and the partial stereospecificity, a homology model of H11 was constructed and used in docking studies to evaluate potential antibody-ligand complexes. The model suggested the hydrolytic nature of H11 was due to Glu 95H acting as a catalytic base, and evaluation of the shape complementarity of the proposed antibody-ligand complexes confirmed at a semi-quantitative level the observation that the major enantiomer is produced in a 30% ee.

Enzymatic catalysis of the Diels–Alder reaction in the biosynthesis of natural products

Recent studies on enzymes catalyzing the Diels- Alder reaction. often named "Diels-Alderases", clearlydemonstrated the involvement of this synthetically useful reaction in the biosynthesis of natural products.This review covers natural Diels-Alder type cycloadducts. synthetic efforts on the chemical feasibility ofthe biosynthctic Diels - Alder reaction and a brief history of studies on Diels-Alderases. In addition,reaction mechanisms of artificial and natural Diels--Alderases are discussed.

Experimental determination of the absolute enantioselectivity of an antibody-catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction and theoretical explorations of the origins of stereoselectivity

The exo and endo Diels-Alder adducts of p-methoxycarbonylbenzyl trans-1,3-butadiene-1-carbamate and N,N-dimethylacrylamide have been synthesized, and the absolute configurations of resolved enantiomers have been determined. On the basis of this information, the absolute enantioselectivities of the Diels-Alder reaction catalyzed by antibodies 13G5 and 4D5 as well as other catalytic antibodies elicited in the same immunizations have been established. The effects of different arrangements of catalytic residues on the structure and energetics of the possible Diels-Alder transition states were modeled quantum mechanically at the B3LYP/6-311++G**//B3LYP/6-31+G** level of theory. Flexible docking of these enantiomeric transition states in the antibody active site followed by molecular dynamics on the resulting complexes provided a prediction of the transition-state binding modes and an explanation of the origin of the observed enantioselectivity of antibody 13G5.

A structural basis for the activity of retro-Diels-Alder catalytic antibodies: evidence for a catalytic aromatic residue

The nitroxyl synthase catalytic antibodies 10F11, 9D9, and 27C5 catalyze the release of nitroxyl from a bicyclic pro-drug by accelerating a retro-Diels-Alder reaction. The Fabs (antigen-binding fragments) of these three catalytic antibodies were cloned and sequenced. Fab 9D9 was crystallized in the apo-form and in complex with one transition state analogue of the reaction. Crystal structures of Fab 10F11 in complex with ligands mimicking substrate, transition state, and product have been determined at resolutions ranging from 1.8 to 2.3 A. Antibodies 9D9 and 10F11 show increased shape complementarity (as quantified by the program sc) to the hapten and to a modeled transition state as compared with substrate and product. The shape complementarity is mediated to a large extent by an aromatic residue (tyrosine or tryptophan) at the bottom of the hydrophobic active pocket, which undergoes pi-stacking interactions with the aromatic rings of the ligands. Another factor contributing to the different reactivity of the regioisomers probably arises because of hydrogen-bonding interactions between the nitroxyl bridge and the backbone amide of PheH101 and possibly a conserved water molecule.

Design and synthesis of a transition state analogue for the Diels-Alder reaction

This paper describes the design and synthesis of a tricationic transition state analogue (TSA 1) for the Diels-Alder reaction. TSA 1 contains a bicyclo[2.2.1]heptene ring system that mimics the boat conformation of the Diels-Alder transition state and is designed to bind tightly to antibodies, nucleic acids, and imprinted polymers by means of hydrogen bonds and salt-bridges. This paper also describes the syntheses of the Diels-Alder reaction substrates (diene 2 and dienophile 3) and a sensitive HPLC assay to monitor the formation of Diels-Alder product 4. In contrast to previously reported TSAs and dienophiles for the Diels-Alder reaction that are based upon maleimides, TSA 1 and dienophile 3 are based upon fumaramide. The fumaramide system should destabilize the initially formed boat conformer of Diels-Alder product 4 and stabilize a half-chair conformer. The conversion of the initially formed boat conformer to the half-chair conformer is designed to help prevent Diels-Alder product 4 from binding strongly to catalysts selected to strongly bind TSA 1. This feature should minimize product inhibition, which can be a problem in the catalysis of the Diels-Alder reaction.

Regioselectivity and enantioselectivity in an antibody catalyzed hetero Diels-Alder reaction

The Diels-Alder cycloadditions of trans- and cis-piperylene (1 and 2) to 4-nitroso-N-propylbenzamide (3) were selected as target reactions for the development of catalytic antibodies with regioselective and enantioselective properties (Meekel, A. A. P. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Amsterdam, 1995). The bicyclic systems 10a-c were designed as transition state analogues and employed for the immunization of mice and the generation of monoclonal antibodies. Three of the antibodies, each obtained from immunization with a different hapten, were selected for further characterization of their catalytic activities. Among these, antibody 309-1G7, raised against the protein conjugate of 10c, showed the best rate enhancement (kcat/ kuncat = 2618) in the reaction of cis-piperylene (2) with nitroso dienophile 3. Data obtained from regioselectivity and enantioselectivity analyses demonstrated that antibody 309-1G7 favors the formation of the targeted regioisomer (> 95%), with an ee of 82%.

Hapten design for the generation of catalytic antibodies

This article brings together all of the kinetic data on catalytic antibodies available in the published literature at the time of writing (September, 1993). The data have been presented so that they can be analyzed for any significant trends that arise from relating the structure of the transition-state analog/hapten to the type and efficiency of the catalytic antibody activity elicited.