Potential Pharmaceutical Compounds from Dioxygenase-Derived Chiral Metabolites

Aromatic and chlorinated aromatic compounds are used in large quantities as herbicides, pesticides, and solvents, and distributed in the biosphere due to these industrial activities contamination. A broad range of peripheral reactions results in a restricted range of central intermediates, which are subject to ringcleavage and funneling into the Krebs cycle. Key enzymes in aerobic aromatic degradation are oxygenases, preparing aromatics for ringcleavage by the introduction of hydroxyl functions and catalyzing cleavage of the aromatic ring. The regio- and stereo-specificity of dioxygenase enzymes revealed that these enzymes are an important class of biotechnology. These Enzymes that are capable of catalyzing the insertion of oxygen into aromatic substrates have many potential applications in pharmaceuticals manufacturing, production of chemicals and also in medicine. The regio- and stereospecific oxidation of an unactivated aromatic compound is very difficult to accomplish using conventional chemical techniques, which typically produce an array of byproducts that must be separated and destroyed. Their potential for derivatization through arene functionalities makes cis dihydrodiols valuable synthetic building blocks for the synthesis of biologically important pinitols, conduritols, and acyclic as well as the drugs indinavir and pancratistain, screening methods for Dioxygenase enzymes, a product of an oxidation reaction is converted into a phenol or a catechol, which is easily detected by a Gibbs assay. This conversion allows for a sensitive and efficient assay. Also methods for detecting phenolic ether-products and sulfhydryl products from oxidation reactions by using a Gibbs assay.