Process and Product Technology Department, AkzoNobel BV, Velperweg 76, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Nat Prod Rep. 2010 Mar;27(3):370-92. doi: 10.1039/b809416k. Epub 2010 Feb 2.
Ether bonds are found in a wide variety of natural products--mainly secondary metabolites--including lipids, oxiranes, terpenoids, flavonoids, polyketides, and carbohydrate derivatives, to name some representative examples. To furnish such a biodiversity of structures, a large number of different enzymes are involved in several different biosynthetic pathways. Depending on the compound and on the (micro) environment in which the reaction is performed, ethers are produced by very different (enzymatic) reactions, thus providing an impressive display of how Nature has combined evolution and thermodynamics to be able to produce a vast number of compounds. In addition, many of these compounds possess different biological activities of pharmacological interest. Moreover, some of these ethers (i.e., epoxides) have high chemical reactivity, and can be useful starting materials for further synthetic processes. This review aims to provide an overview of the different strategies that are found in Nature for the formation of these "bioethers". Both fundamental and practical insights of the biosynthetic processes will be discussed.
醚键存在于广泛的天然产物中——主要是次级代谢产物，包括脂质、环氧化物、萜类化合物、类黄酮、聚酮和碳水化合物衍生物，仅举几个代表性的例子。为了提供如此多样的结构，许多不同的酶参与了几种不同的生物合成途径。根据化合物和反应进行的（微）环境，醚通过非常不同的（酶）反应产生，从而展示了大自然如何结合进化和热力学来产生大量的化合物。此外，这些化合物中的许多都具有不同的具有药理学意义的生物活性。此外，这些醚中的一些（即环氧化物）具有高化学反应性，并且可以作为进一步合成过程的有用起始材料。本综述旨在概述自然界中形成这些“生物醚”的不同策略。将讨论生物合成过程的基础和实际见解。
