Consequences of conformational preorganization in sesquiterpene biosynthesis: theoretical studies on the formation of the bisabolene, curcumene, acoradiene, zizaene, cedrene, duprezianene, and sesquithuriferol sesquiterpenes.

Quantum chemical calculations on cyclization mechanisms for several sesquiterpene families proposed to be closely related to each other in a biogenic sense (the bisabolene, curcumene, acoradiene, zizaene (zizaene, isozizaene, epi-zizaene, and epi-isozizaene), cedrene (alpha/beta-cedrenes and 7-epi-alpha/beta-cedrenes), duprezianene, and sesquithuriferol families) are described. On the basis of the results of these calculations, we suggest that the conformation of the bisabolyl cation attainable in an enzyme active site is a primary determinant of the structure and relative stereochemistry of the sesquiterpenes formed. We also suggest that substantial conformational changes of initially formed conformers of the bisabolyl cation are necessary in order to form zizaene and epi-cedrene. Given that the productive conformation of the bisabolyl cation does not necessarily reflect the original orientation of farnesyl diphosphate bound in the corresponding enzyme active site, we conclude that folding of farnesyl diphosphate alone does not always dictate the structure and relative stereochemistry of cyclization products. In addition, the potential roles of dynamic matching in determining product distributions and enzyme-promoted formation of secondary carbocations are discussed.