Reactivity landscape of pyruvate under simulated hydrothermal vent conditions.

Pyruvate is an important "hub" metabolite that is a precursor for amino acids, sugars, cofactors, and lipids in extant metabolic networks. Pyruvate has been produced under simulated hydrothermal vent conditions from alkyl thiols and carbon monoxide in the presence of transition metal sulfides at 250 °C [Cody GD et al. (2000) Science 289(5483):1337-1340], so it is plausible that pyruvate was formed in hydrothermal systems on the early earth. We report here that pyruvate reacts readily in the presence of transition metal sulfide minerals under simulated hydrothermal vent fluids at more moderate temperatures (25-110 °C) that are more conducive to survival of biogenic molecules. We found that pyruvate partitions among five reaction pathways at rates that depend upon the nature of the mineral present; the concentrations of H2S, H2, and NH4Cl; and the temperature. In most cases, high yields of one or two primary products are found due to preferential acceleration of certain pathways. Reactions observed include reduction of ketones to alcohols and aldol condensation, both reactions that are common in extant metabolic networks. We also observed reductive amination to form alanine and reduction to form propionic acid. Amino acids and fatty acids formed by analogous processes may have been important components of a protometabolic network that allowed the emergence of life.

A Simple Route for Synthesis of 4-Phospho-D-Erythronate.

4-Phospho-D-erythronate is an intermediate in synthesis of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate in some bacteria and an inhibitor of ribose 5-phosphate isomerase. Previous synthetic schemes for the preparation of 4-phospho-D-erythronate required expensive precursors and typically gave low yields. We report a straightforward synthesis of 4-phospho-D-erythronate from the inexpensive precursor D-erythronolactone in 5 steps with a preparatively useful yield of 22%.

A dimethyl ketal-protected benzoin-based linker suitable for photolytic release of unprotected peptides.

Photolabile 3',5'-dimethoxybenzoin-based linkers are advantageous for a variety of solid-phase synthetic procedures and manipulations of biomolecules because UV irradiation in aqueous media provides fast and essentially quantitative release of tethered molecules, while generating unreactive side products. Practical applications of previously reported linkers are compromised to some extent by the 1,3-dithiane protection of the benzoin carbonyl group and the lengthy synthesis. We have extended the group of photocleavable 3',5'-dimethoxybenzoin-based linkers by designing and synthesizing a linker in which the carbonyl group is protected as a dimethyl ketal. This protection is compatible with commonly used esterification and amide bond formation techniques, including the Fmoc/tBu strategy for solid phase peptide synthesis, is stable under mild acidic conditions, and can be quantitatively removed in <5 min by 3% TFA in dichloromethane. Irradiation of beads carrying peptides attached to the linker at 350 nm in aqueous or partially aqueous media affords >90% release after 30 min. The linker was synthesized from commercially available starting materials in five steps with an overall yield of 40% and without any column chromatography purification. Additionally, we developed a route to a dithiane-protected linker that requires only two steps and proceeds in 65% yield, a significant improvement over previous synthetic routes.

Three serendipitous pathways in E. coli can bypass a block in pyridoxal-5'-phosphate synthesis.

Bacterial genomes encode hundreds to thousands of enzymes, most of which are specialized for particular functions. However, most enzymes have inefficient promiscuous activities, as well, that generally serve no purpose. Promiscuous reactions can be patched together to form multistep metabolic pathways. Mutations that increase expression or activity of enzymes in such serendipitous pathways can elevate flux through the pathway to a physiologically significant level. In this study, we describe the discovery of three serendipitous pathways that allow synthesis of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) in a strain of E. coli that lacks 4-phosphoerythronate (4PE) dehydrogenase (PdxB) when one of seven different genes is overexpressed. We have characterized one of these pathways in detail. This pathway diverts material from serine biosynthesis and generates an intermediate in the normal PLP synthesis pathway downstream of the block caused by lack of PdxB. Steps in the pathway are catalyzed by a protein of unknown function, a broad-specificity enzyme whose physiological role is unknown, and a promiscuous activity of an enzyme that normally serves another function. One step in the pathway may be non-enzymatic.

1-Bromo-1-lithioethene: a practical reagent in organic synthesis.

[reaction: see text] A reliable preparative scale synthesis of 1-bromo-1-lithioethene is reported. This reagent undergoes clean 1,2-addition with a range of aldehydes and ketones at -110 degrees C to afford the corresponding 2-bromo-1-alken-3-ols in moderate to excellent yield. Trapping with other electrophiles (acylsilanes, chlorosilanes, tributyltin chloride, iodine) cleanly provides practically useful yields of various 1-substituted 1-bromoethene products. Unexpectedly high diastereoselectivities were observed during the addition of 1-bromo-1-lithioethene to alpha-siloxy aldehydes (typically 10:1, Felkin-Ahn control) and protected ketopyranose and ketofuranose sugars (> or = 10:1, addition from the less-hindered face). The title organolithium reagent possesses relatively low basicity at low temperature, and is compatible with a variety of common protecting groups. We believe that these unusual properties of 1-bromo-1-lithioethene may originate from the specific crystalline structure of the reagent in which lithium is coordinatively saturated and thus unavailable for chelation.

1-bromo-1-lithioethene: a practical reagent for the efficient preparation of 2-bromo-1-alken-3-ols.

A reliable preparative-scale synthesis of 1-bromo-1-lithioethene is reported. This reagent undergoes clean 1,2-addition with a range of aldehydes and ketones at -105 degrees C to afford the corresponding 2-bromo-1-alken-3-ols in moderate to excellent yield. Efficient diastereoselective addition to alpha-siloxy and alpha-methylcyclohexanones, as well as protected 3-keto furanose sugars, is achieved in the presence of 10 mol % CeBr(3). The resulting bromoallylic alcohol adducts have considerable potential as synthetic building blocks. [reaction: see text]