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A new strategy for aromatic ring alkylation in cylindrocyclophane biosynthesis

Nature Chemical Biology volume 13, pages 916–921 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Alkylation of aromatic rings with alkyl halides is an important transformation in organic synthesis, yet an enzymatic equivalent is unknown. Here, we report that cylindrocyclophane biosynthesis in Cylindrospermum licheniforme ATCC 29412 involves chlorination of an unactivated carbon center by a novel halogenase, followed by a previously uncharacterized enzymatic dimerization reaction featuring sequential, stereospecific alkylations of resorcinol aromatic rings. Discovery of the enzymatic machinery underlying this unique biosynthetic carbon–carbon bond formation has implications for biocatalysis and metabolic engineering.

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Figure 1: Construction of the paracyclophane scaffold of the cylindrocyclophanes involves enzymatic aromatic ring alkylation with an alkyl chloride.
Figure 2: Chlorination of a cylindrocyclophane biosynthetic intermediate by the previously unknown halogenase CylC.
Figure 3: CylK alkylates resorcinol aromatic rings with alkyl chlorides to assemble a paracyclophane ring.
Figure 4: CylC and CylK are widespread in cyanobacterial genomes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (CAREER Award no. 1454007; E.P.B.), the Searle Scholars Program (E.P.B.), and the Cottrell Scholar Award (E.P.B.). H.N. acknowledges fellowship support from the NSF GRFP (DGE1144152). We acknowledge H. Hamer and G. Sirasani for preliminary experimental contributions; S. Trauger, G. Byrd, and C. Vidoudez for mass spectrometry analyses; N.R. Braffman for assistance in scaling up CylK assays; and A. Bendelsmith for assistance with chiral HPLC analyses.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Hitomi Nakamura, Erica E Schultz & Emily P Balskus

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  1. Hitomi Nakamura
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H.N. and E.P.B. designed the study. H.N. performed all of the bioinformatic analyses. H.N. and E.E.S. performed biochemical assays and substrate syntheses. All authors analyzed and discussed the results. H.N., E.E.S., and E.P.B. prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Emily P Balskus.

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Nakamura, H., Schultz, E. & Balskus, E. A new strategy for aromatic ring alkylation in cylindrocyclophane biosynthesis. Nat Chem Biol 13, 916–921 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2421

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