T. Gräwert, F. Rohdich, I. Span, A. Bacher, W. Eisenreich, J. Eppinger, M. Groll
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 48, pp. 5756-5759, (2010)
The terminal step of the non-mevalonate pathway of terpene biosynthesis is catalyzed by IspH (see scheme). In the crystal structure of IspH from E. coli,
a bound inorganic diphosphate ligand occupies the position of the
diphosphate residue of the substrate. Together with mutation studies and
theoretical calculations, these data support a mechanism which is
analogous to the Birch reduction of allylic alcohols.