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The pool of abundant chiral terpene building blocks (i.e., "chiral pool terpenes") has long served as a starting point for the chemical synthesis of complex natural products, including many terpenes themselves. As inexpensive and versatile starting materials, such compounds continue to influence modern synthetic chemistry. This review highlights 21st century terpene total syntheses which themselves use small, terpene-derived materials as building blocks. An outlook to the future of research in this area is highlighted as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2017 marks the twentieth anniversary of terpenoid cyclase structural biology: a trio of terpenoid cyclase structures reported together in 1997 were the first to set the foundation for understanding the enzymes largely responsible for the exquisite chemodiversity of more than 80000 terpenoid natural products. Terpenoid cyclases catalyze the most complex chemical reactions in biology, in that more than half of the substrate carbon atoms undergo changes in bonding and hybridization during a single enzyme-catalyzed cyclization reaction. The past two decades have witnessed structural, functional, and computational studies illuminating the modes of substrate activation that initiate the cyclization cascade, the management and manipulation of high-energy carbocation intermediates that propagate the cyclization cascade, and the chemical strategies that terminate the cyclization cascade. The role of the terpenoid cyclase as a template for catalysis is paramount to its function, and protein engineering can be used to reprogram the cyclization cascade to generate alternative and commercially important products. Here, I review key advances in terpenoid cyclase structural and chemical biology, focusing mainly on terpenoid cyclases and related prenyltransferases for which X-ray crystal structures have informed and advanced our understanding of enzyme structure and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a research on the catalytic upgrading of α-pinene and related terpenes. Topics discussed include heterogeneously catalyzed hydrogenation of terpenes, epoxidation of limonene and camphene, and isomerization of oxygenated terpenoids. Also mentioned are chemical composition of crude turpentine (CT), upgrading process involving primary reaction of α- and β-pinene, and characteristics of two hydrogen forms of ferrierite.

The article discusses the isolation, structural elucidation and biological evaluations of Salvia plant constituents. It says that the plants produced an array of secondary metabolites and in the beginning of 2011, a total of 773 compounds were isolation from 134 Salvia species. It also mentions that flavonoids and terpenoids dominate the medicinal chemistry of the plant, in which various studies have showed that aerial parts of the plants contain these compounds.

The article focuses on microbial biotransformation methods of producing monoterpenoid and norisoprenoid natural flavor compounds and other approaches of terpene oxidation. It reveals the use of integer cells from plant-cultured cells, fungi and yeasts, and bacteria, of purified enzymes, and of unconventional biocatalysts in biotransformation processes. Moreover, it discloses genetic modifications, plants recombinant enzymes, as well as cloning and expression of terpene biotransforming agents.

The article discusses the catalytic reaction that help convert carbohydrates, vegetable oils, animal fats, and terpenes into valuable chemicals and fine chemicals. It focuses on chemical routes through heterogeneous catalysis and to describing catalytic processes that is not harmful to the environment as an alternative to the old processes.

The article provides insights in structural biology and chemistry of the terpenoid cyclases. Terpenoid cyclases catalyze the most complex chemical reactions occuring in the environment. They generate a unique hydrocarbon product with remarkable structural and stereochemical precision. The article also discusses monototerpene cyclases, diterpene cyclases, triterpene cyclases and antibody catalysis of cationic cyclization reactions.

The article presents a comprehensive review on ingenol, discussing both the synthetic chemistry as well as its biological aspects, with an emphasis on the development of methodologies for constructing the trans-bicyclo undecane framework. The objective is to create a total synthesis. The author has argued that a large supply of ingenol and its analogues through chemical synthesis as well as isolation from natural sources has been expected to promote the development of new therapeutic agents.

The article presents a comprehensive review on polyolefin cyclizations, illustrated as a case study in biomimetic total synthesis. The author has discussed how his research contributed to the development of synthetic methods that converge upon the efficient techniques of nature. He has however conceded that intriguing new questions about these transformations remain, thereby stimulating questions on biosynthesis mechanisms and synthesis possibilities. He has likewise emphasized the need to clearly understand their mutual benefits.

Features synthetic chemicals which may be derived from different polyquinane carboxylic skeletal formations. Strategies for polyquinane synthesis; Synthetic terpene derivatives; Appeal of terpenes to synthetic chemists; Linear triquinanes; Tetraquinanes; Angular triquinanes.