[New synthesis of pyrrolnitrin antibiotics]

Microbial Pyrrolnitrin: Natural Metabolite with Immense Practical Utility

Pyrrolnitrin (PRN) is a microbial pyrrole halometabolite of immense antimicrobial significance for agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial implications. The compound and its derivatives have been isolated from rhizospheric fluorescent or non-fluorescent pseudomonads, Serratia and Burkholderia. They are known to confer biological control against a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi, and thus offer strong plant protection prospects against soil and seed-borne phytopathogenic diseases. Although chemical synthesis of PRN has been obtained using different steps, microbial production is still the most useful option for producing this metabolite. In many of the plant-associated isolates of Serratia and Burkholderia, production of PRN is dependent on the quorum-sensing regulation that usually involves N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) autoinducer signals. When applied on the organisms as antimicrobial agent, the molecule impedes synthesis of key biomolecules (DNA, RNA and protein), uncouples with oxidative phosphorylation, inhibits mitotic division and hampers several biological mechanisms. With its potential broad-spectrum activities, low phototoxicity, non-toxic nature and specificity for impacts on non-target organisms, the metabolite has emerged as a lead molecule of industrial importance, which has led to developing cost-effective methods for the biosynthesis of PRN using microbial fermentation. Quantum of work narrating focused research efforts in the emergence of this potential microbial metabolite is summarized here to present a consolidated, sequential and updated insight into the chemistry, biology and applicability of this natural molecule.

Synthesis of pyrrolnitrin and related halogenated phenylpyrroles

A general approach to halogenated arylpyrroles, including the antifungal natural product pyrrolnitrin, is described using newly synthesized halogenated pyrroles and 2,6-disubstituted nitrobenzenes or 2,6-disubstituted anilines.

Gosteli-Claisen rearrangement: DFT study of substituent-rate effects

The uncatalyzed Gosteli-Claisen rearrangement of four double bond isomeric allyl vinyl ethers has been studied at the B3LYP/6-31G* and B3LYP/6-31G*+PCM levels of theory. The experimentally determined structure-reactivity relationship was successfully reproduced; the relative reactivity of the (E,E)-, (E,Z)-, (Z,E)-, and (Z,Z)-configured allyl vinyl ethers can be attributed to unfavorable interactions caused by pseudoaxial substituents within the chairlike transition-state structures. As expected, the isolated assessment of the calculated ground-state or transition-state stabilities is not suitable to explain the experimentally observed structure-reactivity relationship.

(±)-syn-Isopropyl 4-(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexa-fluoro-propan-2-yl-oxy)-1-hydr-oxy-3-methyl-2-(prop-1-yn-yl)cyclo-pent-2-ene-carboxyl-ate

The title compound, C₁₆H₁₈F₆O₄, was obtained through an unprecedented one-pot reaction sequence involving a Gosteli–Claisen rearrangement and a cyclo­isomerization. The constitution and relative configuration were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In the crystal, mol­ecules are connected via O—H ⋯ O hydrogen bonds.

Gosteli-Claisen rearrangement: substrate synthesis, simple diastereoselectivity, and kinetic studies

The results of kinetic studies on the uncatalyzed [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of 2-alkoxycarbonyl-substituted allyl vinyl ethers are reported. Apparently first reported by Gosteli in 1972, this variation of a Claisen rearrangement enjoyed a shadowy existence for three decades until its potential for the development of a catalytic asymmetric Claisen rearrangement was discovered. Inspired by this development, we have studied substituent and solvent rate effects, and we provide evidence that a chairlike transition state is highly favorable for the uncatalyzed Gosteli-Claisen rearrangement.

Novel photodegradation of the antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin in anhydrous and aqueous aprotic solvents

The UV irradiation of pyrrolnitrin (1a), which is an antibiotic clinically useful against dermatophytosis and possesses a unique 2-(pyrrol-3-yl)nitrobenzene moiety in the molecule, in an anhydrous aprotic solvent resulted in the exclusive formation of transient 7,4'-dichlorospiro[1,3-dihydrobenzo(c)isoxazole-3,3'-pyrrolin-2'-one] (2a) via the intramolecular oxidation of the juxtaposed pyrrole ring by the triplet-excited nitro group. The irradiation in an aqueous aprotic solvent, however, allowed the concurrent occurrence of intramolecular cyclization by the singlet-excited nitro group in 1a and the hydroxylation at the 2-position of the pyrrole ring by water to afford 3,7-dichloro-8-hydroxy-8,8a-dihydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indol-2-one (3a), accompanied by the formation of 2a. Elongation of the irradiation time in these photoreactions caused a rapid consumption of the products, 2a and 3a, to give undetermined polar polymeric products. The present results indicate that the photodegradation of 1a is significantly influenced by the presence of water in the reaction media and by the nature of its excited state. Thus, the loss of the antifungal activities by the photosensitive antibiotic 1a was chemically proved.

Functions encoded by pyrrolnitrin biosynthetic genes from Pseudomonas fluorescens

Pyrrolnitrin is a secondary metabolite derived from tryptophan and has strong antifungal activity. Recently we described four genes, prnABCD, from Pseudomonas fluorescens that encode the biosynthesis of pyrrolnitrin. In the work presented here, we describe the function of each prn gene product. The four genes encode proteins identical in size and serology to proteins present in wild-type Pseudomonas fluorescens, but absent from a mutant from which the entire prn gene region had been deleted. The prnA gene product catalyzes the chlorination of L-tryptophan to form 7-chloro-L-tryptophan. The prnB gene product catalyzes a ring rearrangement and decarboxylation to convert 7-chloro-L-tryptophan to monodechloroaminopyrrolnitrin. The prnC gene product chlorinates monodechloroaminopyrrolnitrin at the 3 position to form aminopyrrolnitrin. The prnD gene product catalyzes the oxidation of the amino group of aminopyrrolnitrin to a nitro group to form pyrrolnitrin. The organization of the prn genes in the operon is identical to the order of the reactions in the biosynthetic pathway.