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Synthesis of Fluoro Analogues of Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Corresponding Acyclic Metabolites
Author(s) -
Prakesch Michaël,
Grée Danielle,
Chandrasekhar Srivari,
Grée René
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
european journal of organic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1099-0690
pISSN - 1434-193X
DOI - 10.1002/ejoc.200400585
Subject(s) - chemistry , polyunsaturated fatty acid , arachidonic acid , fluorine , chemical synthesis , fatty acid , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , enzyme , in vitro
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, in particular arachidonic acid and its metabolites, the so‐called eicosanoids, play a major role in human health. Many of them have been involved as potent mediators for various diseases such as inflammation and asthma. Therefore, numerous modifications in the structures of these natural products have been incorporated to study the structure‐activity relationship, monitor the biosynthetic pathway and also to understand the biological activities as well as the mechanisms of action. The modifications include introduction of labelled elements, fluorine atoms, heteroelements, carbo‐ and heterocycles etc. Of all these studies, the introduction of fluorine, which has a unique role as the smallest atom in the periodic table after hydrogen and also as the most electronegative element, provided very useful information. Thus, the present microreview highlights the synthetic efforts of various research groups in the last two decades on bioactive fluorinated fatty acids and corresponding acyclic metabolites. It also presents the most relevant bioactivity data obtained from the fluorinated analogues. The data corresponding to naturally occurring fluorinated fatty acids have been added, as well as the use of fluorinated probes for some biosynthetic studies in fatty acid chemistry (desaturation and methylenation). In addition, it is important to point out that the methods and strategies which have been developed to selectively introduce a single fluorine atom, as well as CF 2 or CF 3 groups, on such very challenging molecules could also be of much use in many other areas of chemistry. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005)