Work

Extraction and Analysis of Terpenes/Terpenoids

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Terpenes/terpenoids constitute one of the largest classes of natural products, due to the incredible chemical diversity that can arise from the biochemical transformations of relatively simple prenyl diphosphate starter units. All terpenes/terpenoids comprise a hydrocarbon backbone generated from various length prenyl diphosphates (a polymer chain of prenyl units). Upon ionization (removal) of the diphosphate group, the remaining allylic carbocation intermediates can be coaxed down complex chemical cascades leading to diverse linear and cyclized hydrocarbon backbones that can be further modified with a wide range of functional groups (e.g., alcohols or ketones) and substituent additions (e.g., sugars or fatty acids). Because of this chemical diversity, terpenes/terpenoids have great industrial uses as flavors, fragrances, high grade lubricants, biofuels, agricultural chemicals, and medicines. The protocols presented here focus on the extraction of terpenes/terpenoids from various plant sources and have been divided into extraction methods for terpenes/terpenoids with various levels of chemical decoration—from relatively small, nonpolar, volatile hydrocarbons to substantially large molecules with greater physical complexity due to chemical modifications. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Source: Current Protocols in Plant Biology

DOI: 10.1002/cppb.20024

Authors: Zuodong Jiang, Chase Kempinski, Joe Chappell

Institution: University of Kentucky

Language: English

Topic: Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Award: Advancing Drug Development from Medicinal Plants using Transcriptomics and Metabo