Biosynthesis of Terpenes
Posted by linalool on July 7, 2008
Molecules have a beauty and simplicity and belies their importance and efficacy. My inspiration in chemistry was reading the aptly named Atkins tome Molecules, a book that fascinated me to no end. Really, ad infinitum.
Life begins with geranyl diphosphate. “O-P-P!” as I say it. To get most of the essential oils, some oxidation or rearrangement needed. btw, not all arrows were created equal.
The really interesting part is that the selective oxidation is something that chemists can do, we don’t have to rely on magic enzymes (they’re really not that magical – just have about a billion years of evolution more expertise. same difference). As a practical matter, chemists are mostly concerned with chemoselective oxidation to do this.. Hydrocobaltalation of myrcene, followed by exposure to heat and triplet oxygen can give linalool peroxide, which can then be reduced to linalool. Old school reference! I hope there are easier ways to do this chemistry. Racemic product by the way!
Next time: electrophilic bromination!
