Charalambos Michael, Yu-Cong Zheng, Mark W. Ruszczycky, Nian‐Qi Chen, Chao-Hsuan Lin, Wei-Yu Lin, Wei‐chen Chang
-dimethoxy analogue of (+)-hydroxy-yatein indicate antarafacial C-C bond formation during the cyclization reaction and remain consistent with cation-mediated cyclization. A crystallographic study of DPS bound with vanadium(IV) oxide, succinate, and (-)-hydroxy-yatein suggests a subtle interplay of steric interactions between the substrate and the active site that can alter the course of the DPS-catalyzed reaction and thus cyclization versus hydroxylation. Finally, an efficient chemoenzymatic approach to (-)-podophyllotoxin is described that relies only on freeze-dried whole cells after DPS overexpression.