Bacterial Catabolism of Biphenyls: Synthesis and Evaluation of Analogues

Chembiochem. 2018 Jun 15. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201800231. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

A series of alkylated 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyls has been prepared on the gram scale by using an effective Directed ortho Metalation-Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling strategy. These compounds have been used to investigate the substrate specificity of the meta-cleavage dioxygenase BphC, a key enzyme in the microbial catabolism of biphenyl. Isolation and characterization of the meta-cleavage products will allow further study of related processes, including the catabolism of lignin-derived biphenyls.

Keywords: biphenyls; cross-coupling; metalation; microbial catabolism; substrate specificity.