Labeled brassinosteroids for biochemical studies.

The present paper describes the results of our studies on the synthesis of brassinolide biosynthetic precursors as tools for investigations of new biosynthetic routes leading to brassinosteroids. The corresponding labeled compounds containing three or six deuterium atoms at terminal methyl group(s) of the side chain (in a position ensuring lack of isotopic exchange) were prepared starting from stigmasterol or bisnorcholenic acid. Two strategies for the construction of the carbon skeleton of the side chain were applied in this study: Claisen rearrangement of allylic alcohols and convergent synthesis based on the coupling of 22-aldehydes with appropriate chiral sulfone. More than 20 brassinolide precursors (actual or suspected) have been prepared for metabolic studies that enabled identification of new brassinosteroids and biosynthetic subpathways to brassinolide in Secale cereale and Arabidopsis thaliana.