Studies on taxadiene synthase: interception of the cyclization cascade at the isocembrene stage with GGPP analogues.

[reaction: see text] The cyclization of GGPP to taxadiene, catalyzed by taxadiene synthase, has been suggested to proceed through a series of monocyclic isocembrenyl- and bicyclic verticillyl-carbocationic intermediary stages. A set of GGPP analogues with abolished or perturbed pi-nucleophilicity at the delta10 double bond (GGPP numbering) was synthesized and incubated with taxadiene synthase to intercept the cyclization cascade at the monocyclic stage. Each analogue was transformed by taxadiene synthase in vitro to hydrocarbon products in varying yields, and the structures of the major product in each reaction were solved by GCEIMS and one- and two-dimensional (1H and 13C) NMR and found to be 14-membered monocyclic isocembrenyl diterpenes, indicating that the first C-C bond formation catalyzed by taxadiene synthase could be uncoupled from the other subsequent bond formation events by using suitably designed substrate analogues. The formation and isolation of these isocembrenyl diterpene products using taxadiene synthase supports proposals that the isocembrenyl cation is an intermediate in the cyclization of GGPP to taxadiene.