The use of biocatalysis for industrial synthetic chemistry is on the verge of significant growth. Biocatalytic processes can now be carried out in organic solvents as well as aqueous environments, so that apolar organic compounds as well as water-soluble compounds can be modified selectively and efficiently with enzymes and biocatalytically active cells. As the use of biocatalysis for industrial chemical synthesis becomes easier, several chemical companies have begun to increase significantly the number and sophistication of the biocatalytic processes used in their synthesis operations.

Industrial biocatalysis today and tomorrow

▪ Abstract The neonicotinoids, the newest major class of insecticides, have outstanding potency and systemic action for crop protection against piercing-sucking pests, and they are highly effective for flea control on cats and dogs. Their common names are acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam. They generally have low toxicity to mammals (acute and chronic), birds, and fish. Biotransformations involve some activation reactions but largely detoxification mechanisms. In contrast to nicotine, epibatidine, and other ammonium or iminium nicotinoids, which are mostly protonated at physiological pH, the neonicotinoids are not protonated and have an electronegative nitro or cyano pharmacophore. Agonist recognition by the nicotinic receptor involves cation-π interaction for nicotinoids in mammals and possibly a cationic subsite for interaction with the nitro or cyano substituent of neonicotinoids in insects. The low affinity of neonicotinoids for vertebrate ...

NEONICOTINOID INSECTICIDE TOXICOLOGY: Mechanisms of Selective Action

The influence of natural products upon drug discovery.

Natural products to drugs: natural product derived compounds in clinical trials

■ Abstract Neonicotinoids, the most important new class of synthetic insecticides of the past three decades, are used to control sucking insects both on plants and on companion animals. Imidacloprid (the principal example), nitenpyram, acetamiprid, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, and others act as agonists at the insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). The botanical insecticide nicotine acts at the same target without the neonicotinoid level of effectiveness or safety. Fundamental differences between the nAChRs of insects and mammals confer remarkable selectivity for the neonicotinoids. Whereas ionized nicotine binds at an anionic subsite in the mammalian nAChR, the negatively tipped (“magic” nitro or cyano) neonicotinoids interact with a proposed unique subsite consisting of cationic amino acid residue(s) in the insect nAChR. Knowledge reviewed here of the functional architecture and molecular aspects of the insect and mammalian nAChRs and their neonicotinoid-binding site lays the foundation for continued development and use of this new class of safe and effective insecticides. CONTENTS

Selective toxicity of neonicotinoids attributable to specificity of insect and mammalian nicotinic receptors

A potent non-opioid analgesic, epibatidine, has been isolated from skins of the Ecuadoran poison frog, Epipedobates tricolor, and its structure determined by MS, IR, and 1 H NMR analyses as exo-2-(6-chloro-3-pyridyl)-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane. It represents a unique new class of alkaloids

Epibatidine: a novel (chloropyridyl)azabicycloheptane with potent analgesic activity from an ecuadoran poison frog

Amphibians of the family Bufonidae contain high levels of skin compounds that both inhibit Na+- and K+-dependent adenosinetriphosphatase and antagonize the binding of ouabain to the enzyme. In species of Bufo and Atelopus, these compounds are relatively nonpolar bufodienolides, whereas Dendrophryniscus and Melanophryniscus contain more polar compounds of unknown structure. Skin extracts from 30 of 48 species of frogs representing an additional eight families contained relatively low levels of compounds that inhibit binding of ouabain to Na+,K+-adenosinetriphosphatase. The widespread occurrence of low levels of inhibitory compounds is consonant with the role for these compounds as physiological regulators of Na+,K+-adenosinetriphosphatase in amphibian skin; high levels in the Bufonidae probably also serve as a defense against some predators.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/208/4443/503.full.pdf

Widespread occurrence in frogs and toads of skin compounds interacting with the ouabain site of Na+, K+-ATPase.

[12-3H]Forskolin (27 Ci/mmol) has been used to study binding sites in rat brain tissue by using both centrifugation and filtration assays. The binding isotherm measured in the presence of 5 mM MgCl2 by using the centrifugation assay is described best by a two-site model: Kd1 = 15 nM, Bmax1 (maximal binding) = 270 fmol/mg of protein; Kd2 = 1.1 microM; Bmax2 = 4.2 pmol/mg of protein. Only the high-affinity binding sites are detected when the binding is determined by using a filtration assay; Kd = 26 nM, Bmax = 400 fmol/mg of protein. Analogs of forskolin that do not activate adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) do not compete effectively for [3H]forskolin binding sites. Analogs of forskolin that are less potent than forskolin in activating adenylate cyclase are also less potent in competing for forskolin binding sites. The presence of 5 mM MgCl2 or MnCl2 was found to enhance binding. In the presence of 1 mM EDTA the amount of high-affinity binding is reduced to 110 fmol/mg of protein with no change in Kd. There is no effect of CaCl2 (20 mM) or NaCl (100 mM) on the binding. No high-affinity binding can be detected in membranes from ram sperm, which contains an adenylate cyclase that is not activated by forskolin. It is proposed that the high-affinity binding sites for forskolin are associated with the activated complex of catalytic subunit and stimulatory guanine nucleotide binding protein.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/81/16/5081.full.pdf

Binding of [3H]forskolin to rat brain membranes.

Binding of 3H-forskolin to rat brain membranes

Dendrobates speciosus is a small red or orange frog that occupies a small geographic range in the highlands of western Panama, where it occurs abundantly in some cloud forest habitats. Gc-ms analysis indicated the presence of at least 30 alkaloids in MeOH skin extracts from population samples at the extreme eastern end of the known geographic range. Eleven alkaloids were isolated by cc in quantities sufficient for 2D-nmr spectral analysis, which in some cases confirmed their identity with alkaloids known from other species and in other cases led to assignment of structures. Pumiliotoxin 251D, pumiliotoxin A [307A], pumiliotoxin B [323A], and allopumiliotoxin 267A were identified as major constituents. N-Oxides of 323A and 267A were also isolated. Indolizidines 195B and 223AB with 3-butyl-5-methyl and 3-butyl-5-propyl substituents, respectively, were identified. The 5-substituents of the 8-methyl-indolizidines 207A and 235B' were assigned as -(CH2)3CH = CH2 and -(CH2)5CH = CH2, respectively; indolizidine 235B' from D. speciosus is, thus, a positional double-bond isomer of indolizidine 235B previously isolated from a closely related poison frog, Dendrobates pumilio. A piperidine 241D was isolated and assigned the structure cis-cis-2-methyl-6-nonyl-4-hydroxypiperidine.

Alkaloids from a panamanian poison frog, Dendrobates speciosus: identification of pumiliotoxin-A and allopumiliotoxin class alkaloids, 3,5-disubstituted indolizidines, 5-substituted 8-methylindolizidines, and a 2-methyl-6-nonyl-4-hydroxypiperidine.

M. W. Edwards

Papers

Epibatidine: a novel (chloropyridyl)azabicycloheptane with potent analgesic activity from an ecuadoran poison frog

Widespread occurrence in frogs and toads of skin compounds interacting with the ouabain site of Na+, K+-ATPase.

Binding of [3H]forskolin to rat brain membranes.

Binding of 3H-forskolin to rat brain membranes

Alkaloids from a panamanian poison frog, Dendrobates speciosus: identification of pumiliotoxin-A and allopumiliotoxin class alkaloids, 3,5-disubstituted indolizidines, 5-substituted 8-methylindolizidines, and a 2-methyl-6-nonyl-4-hydroxypiperidine.