title: Stereochemistry of water addition in triterpene synthesis: the structure of arabidiol.
abstract: An oxidosqualene cyclase from Arabidopsis thaliana makes arabidiol, a tricyclic triterpene reported with indeterminate side-chain stereochemistry. We established the full structure of arabidiol through chemical degradation, NOE experiments, and molecular modeling. By examining the mechanistic constraints that govern water addition in triterpene synthesis, we further show how the stereochemistry of hydroxylation can generally be deduced a priori, why deprotonation is more common than hydroxylation, and why cyclases that perform hydroxylation also generate olefinic byproducts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: Mariya D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kolesnikova
authors.forename: Allie C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Obermeyer
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Quanbo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Seiichi P T
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014315:Triterpenes; C521218:arabidiol; D014867:Water