Hopane is a natural chemical compound classified as a
triterpene
Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squale ...
. It forms the central core of a variety of other chemical compounds which are collectively known as
hopanoid
Hopanoids are a diverse subclass of triterpenoids with the same hydrocarbon skeleton as the compound hopane. This group of pentacyclic molecules therefore refers to simple hopenes, hopanols and hopanes, but also to extensively functionalized deriv ...
s. The first compound of the hopane family to be isolated and characterised was hydroxyhopanone, found in
dammar
Dammar, also called dammar gum, or damar gum, is a resin obtained from the tree family Dipterocarpaceae in India and Southeast Asia, principally those of the genera '' Shorea'' or '' Hopea'' (synonym ''Balanocarpus''). The resin of some species ...
resin.
The name derives from ''
Hopea
''Hopea'' is a genus of plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus was named after John Hope, 1725–1786, the first Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. It contains some 113 species, distributed from Sri Lanka and south ...
'', a tree genus from which dammar is obtained.
See also
*
Bacteriohopanepolyol Bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs), bacteriohopanoids, or bacterial pentacyclic triterpenoids are commonly found in the lipid cell membranes of many bacteria. BHPs are frequently used as biomarkers in sedimentary rocks and can provide paleoecological inf ...
References
Triterpenes
Hydrocarbons
Cyclopentanes
Isopropyl compounds
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