Chemical Modifications of Biopolymers by Quinones and Quinone Methides

Abstract

Abstract Many quinones and their precursors, which are transformed oxidatively into quinones and/or quinone methides, are important natural products. As secondary metabolites, they frequently possess antibiotic and cytotoxic activities, in addition to acting sometimes as pathogens. Several plants and animals, especially insects, use quinonoid substances for defense, often with spectacular results. On the macromolecular level, quinone methides have a key role in the plant kingdom in lignin biosynthesis; the biosynthesis of melanoproteins exemplifies the reactions of o ‐quinones in the animal kingdom. In insects, cross‐linking of structural proteins through quinones and quinone methides results in the construction of the sclerotized exoskeleton. For mankind, the reactivity of quinones in biological systems has far‐reaching consequences of pharmaceutical, toxicological, and technical relevance. The examples in this review show that a common principle underlies these reactions, namely, the chemical modification of biopolymers. As demonstrated particularly well in a more detailed discussion of the chemical principles of insect cuticle sclerotization, several major and important new results have emerged from the development and applications of modern methods of sample separation and from solid‐state NMR spectroscopy.