Senescent higher plants degrade their chlorophylls (Chls) to polar colorless tetrapyrrolic Chl catabolites, which accumulate in the vacuoles. In extracts from degreened leaves of the tree Cercidiphyllum japonicum an unpolar catabolite of this type was discovered. This tetrapyrrole was named Cj-NCC-2 and was found to be identical with the product of a stereoselective nonenzymatic isomerization of a ''fluorescent'' Chl catabolite. This (bio-mimetic) formation of the ''nonfluorescent'' catabolite Cj-NCC-2 took place readily at ambient temperature and at pH 4.9 in aqueous solution. The indicated nonenzymatic process is able to account for a crucial step during Chl breakdown in senescent higher plants. Once delivered to the acidic vacuoles, the fluorescent Chl catabolites are due to undergo a rapid, stereoselective isomerization to the ubiquitous nonfluorescent catabolites. The degradation of the Chl macrocycle is thus indicated to rely on just two known enzymes, one of which is senescence specific and cuts open the chlorin macroring. The two enzymes supply the fluorescent Chl catabolites, which are ''programmed'' to isomerize further rapidly in an acidic medium, as shown here. Indeed, only small amounts of the latter are temporarily observable during senescence in higher plants.

Twenty years ago, the molecular basis for the seasonal disappearance of chlorophyll was still enigmatic. In the meantime, our knowledge on chlorophyll breakdown has grown considerably. As outlined here, it has been possible to decipher the basic transformations involved in natural chlorophyll breakdown by identification of chlorophyll catabolites in higher plants, and with the help of the synthesis of (putative) catabolic intermediates. In vascular plants, chlorophyll breakdown typically converts the green plant pigments efficiently into colorless and non-fluorescent tetrapyrroles. It involves colored intermediates only fleetingly and in an (elusive) enzyme-bound form. The non-fluorescent chlorophyll catabolites accumulate in the vacuoles of degreened leaves and are considered the products, primarily, of a detoxification process. However, they are effective antioxidants, and may thus also have physiologically beneficial chemical properties.(© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)

Colorless nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites (NCCs), the final products of endogenous chlorophyll breakdown in higher plants, were prepared by biomimetic partial synthesis from chlorophyll a. A nonstereoselective variant of the synthesis also provided an entry to the enantiomers of natural NCCs.

In extracts of senescent leaves of spinach (Spinacia oleracea), five colourless compounds with UV/Vis-characteristics of nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites (NCCs) were detected and tentatively named So-NCCs. The most abundant polar NCC in the leaves of this vegetable, So-NCC-2, had been isolated earlier and its constitution was determined by spectroscopic means. The catabolite So-NCC-2 was found to be an epimer of a polar NCC from barley (Hordeum vulgare), the first non-green chlorophyll catabolite from a higher plant to be structurally analyzed. Here, we report on the isolation of four additional So-NCCs from the extracts of senescent leaves of Sp. oleracea by two- (or multi-)stage chromatographic purification and on their structural characterization. The constitution of So-NCC-3 could be determined by spectroscopic analysis in combination with chemical correlation with a known NCC from Cercidiphyllum japonicum (Cj-NCC): So-NCC-3 was identified as the hydrolysis product of the methyl ester function of Cj-NCC. The less polar catabolite So-NCC-4 could be directly identified with Cj-NCC. Two further So-NCCs, So-NCC-1 and So-NCC-5, were detected only in trace amounts. Five structurally related nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites (So-NCCs) are thus present in senescent leaves of spinach. The structures of this set of So-NCCs indicate several peripheral refunctionalization reactions and inform on the late catabolic transformations during leaf senescence. The transformation of the tetrapyrrolic skeleton in chlorophyll catabolism in spinach and in C. japonicum is revealed to exhibit a common stereochemical pattern.

Dedicated to Prof. Andre M. Braun on the occasion of his 60th birthday In extracts of senescent leaves of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) that had degreened naturally after the onset of flowering, four colorless compounds, which had characteristic UV/VIS properties of nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites (NCCs), were detected by HPLC. From the extracts of 58.7 g of senescent leaves of Sp. oleracea, a two-stage HPLC purification procedure provided ca. 15 mmol of So-NCC-2, the most abundant polar NCC in the leaves of this vegetable. So-NCC-2 was isolated as a slightly yellow powder and analyzed by spectroscopic means. The high-resolution mass spectra indicated that So-NCC-2 has the same molecular formula as Hv-NCC-1 from barley (Hordeum vulgare), the first non-green chlorophyll catabolite from a higher plant to be structurally analyzed. Homo-and hetero-nuclear NMR spectroscopy indicated So-NCC-2 to have the same constitution as its epimer Hv-NCC-1, and to differ from the latter by the configuration at C(1). The catabolite from spinach could be identified with one of the products from OsO 4 dihydroxylation at the vinyl group of the main NCC from Cercidiphyllum japonicum. Chlorophyll breakdown in spinach and in C. japonicum apparently involves an enzyme-catalyzed reduction that occurs with the same stereochemical sense at C(1), but opposite to that in barley.

The tetrapyrrolic chlorophyll catabolites (or phyllobilins, PBs) were analyzed in yellow fall leaves of the grape Chardonnay, a common Vitis vinifera white wine cultivar. The major fractions in leaf extracts of V. vinifera, tentatively assigned to PBs, were isolated and their structures elucidated. The dominant fraction is a dioxobilin‐type non‐fluorescent Chl‐catabolite of a previously observed type. Two less polar fluorescent PBs were characterized as a novel dioxobilin‐type fluorescent Chl‐catabolite with a bicyclo‐1′,6′‐glycosyl architecture, and its new fluorescent formyloxobilin‐type analogue. The discovery of persistent hypermodified fluorescent PBs with the architecture of bicyclo‐[17.3.1]‐PBs (bcPBs), suggests the activity of an unknown enzyme that forges the 20‐membered macroring at the tetrapyrrolic core of a fluorescent PB. bcPBs may play specific physiological roles in grapevine plants and represent endogenous anti‐infective agents, as found similarly for other organic bicyclo‐[n.3.1]‐1′,6′‐glycosyl derivatives.

The corrinoids from the obligate anaerobe Clostridium cochlearium were extracted as a mixture of Co ␤ -cyano derivatives. From 50 g of frozen cells, approximately 2 mg (1.5 mol) of B 12 derivatives was obtained as a crystalline sample. Analysis of the corrinoid sample of C. cochlearium by a combination of high-pressure liquid chromatography and UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy revealed the presence of three cyano corrinoids in a ratio of about 3:1:1. The spectroscopic data acquired for the sample indicated the main components to be pseudovitamin B 12 (Co ␤ -cyano-7؆-adeninylcobamide) (60%) and factor A (Co ␤ -cyano-7؆-[2-methyl]adeninylcobamide) (20%). Authentic pseudovitamin B 12 was prepared by guided biosynthesis from cobinamide and adenine. Both pseudovitamin B 12 and its homologue, factor A, were subjected to complete spectroscopic analysis by UV-Vis, circular dichroism, mass spectrometry, and by one-and two-dimensional 1 H, 13 C-, and 15 N nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The third component was indicated by the mass spectra to be an isomer of factor A and is likely (according to NMR) to be 7؆-[N 6 -methyl]-adeninylcobamide, a previously unknown corrinoid. C. cochlearium thus biosynthesizes as its native "complete" B 12 cofactors the 7؆-adeninylcobamides and two homologous corrinoids, in which the nucleotide base is a methylated adenine.

Riboswitches are regulatory elements in the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of bacterial mRNAs that bind certain metabolites with high specificity and affinity. The 202 nucleotide (nt)-long btuB riboswitch RNA of E. coli interacts specifically with coenzyme B12 and its derivatives thereby leading to changes in the RNA structure and hence to an altered expression of the downstream btuB gene. We report the investigations of the rearrangement of the three-dimensional structure of the btuB riboswitch upon binding to four different B12 derivatives: coenzyme B12, vitamin B12, adenosyl factor A and adenosyl-cobinamide. In-line probing experiments have shown that the corrin ring plays the crucial role in switching the three-dimensional riboswitch structure. Instead, the apical ligands influence only the binding affinity of the B12 derivative to the btuB riboswitch.