Zur Kenntniss der Terpene und der ätherischen Oele

Mechanistic Investigations of Two Bacterial Diterpene Cyclases: Spiroviolene Synthase and Tsukubadiene Synthase

“…The pioneering work by Otto Wallach in the 19th Century culminated in the identification of numerous terpenes from plants . Much later it became evident that fungi, bacteria, and even eukaryotic microorganisms such as social amoebae also produce a large variety of terpenes.…”

Rerouting and Improving Dauc‐8‐en‐11‐ol Synthase from Streptomyces venezuelae to a High Yielding Biocatalyst

“…Wallach's visionary proposal of a general terpene ensemble by head-to-tail connection of isoprene units helped tremendously in their structure elucidation especially at his time. [3] The biochemical background for the biogenetic isoprene rule rests in the terpene monomers dimethylallyl (DMAPP) and isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP), reactive isoprene derivatives, that are the precursors of the oligomeric terpene precursors geranyl (GPP), farnesyl (FPP), geranylgeranyl (GGPP) and geranylfarnesyl diphosphate (GFPP) by prenyltransferases. [4] Their cyclisations by terpene synthases proceed by abstraction of the diphosphate group, yielding a reactive allyl cation that can enter a cascade reaction involving typical carbocation chemistry with cyclisations by intramolecular attack of an olefin to a cationic centre, hydride or proton migrations, Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements (WMR), eventually water quenching (in case of terpene alcohols) and terminal deprotonation.…”

Mechanistische Studien an zwei bakteriellen Diterpencyclasen: Spiroviolen‐Synthase und Tsukubadien‐Synthase

“…Die bahnbrechenden Arbeiten von Otto Wallach im 19. Jahrhundert kulminierten in der Identifizierung einer Vielzahl von Terpenen aus Pflanzen . Viel später wurde erkannt, dass auch Pilze, Bakterien und sogar eukaryotische Mikroorganismen wie soziale Amöben vielfältige Terpene produzieren.…”