Reductive Amination Revisited: Reduction of Aldimines with Trichlorosilane Catalyzed by Dimethylformamide─Functional Group Tolerance, Scope, and Limitations.

Aldimines, generated in situ from aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic aldehydes and aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic primary or secondary amines, can be reduced with trichlorosilane in the presence of dimethylformamide (DMF) as an organocatalyst (≤10 mol %) in toluene or CH2Cl2 at room temperature. The reduction tolerates ketone carbonyls, esters, amides, nitriles, sulfones, sulfonamides, NO2, SF5, and CF3 groups, boronic esters, azides, phosphine oxides, C═C and C≡C bonds, and ferrocenyl nucleus, but sulfoxides and N-oxides are reduced. α,ß-Unsaturated aldimines undergo 1,2-reduction only, leaving the C═C bond intact. N-Monoalkylation of primary amines is attained with a 1:1 aldehyde to amine ratio, whereas excess of the aldehyde (≥2:1) allows second alkylation, giving rise to tertiary amines. Reductive N-alkylation of α-amino acids proceeds without racemization; the resulting products, containing a C≡C bond or N3 group, are suitable for click chemistry. This reaction thus offers advantages over the traditional methods (borohydride reduction or catalytic hydrogenation) in terms of efficiency and chemoselectivity. Solubility of some of the reacting partners appears to be the only limitation. The byproducts generated by the workup with aqueous NaHCO3 (i.e., NaCl and silica) are environmentally benign. As a greener alternative, DMA can be employed as a catalyst instead of DMF.

Highly enantioselective access to diketopiperazines via cinchona alkaloid catalyzed Michael additions.

Michael addition reactions of triketopiperazine (TKP) derivatives to enones, mediated by a cinchona alkaloid-derived catalyst, deliver products in high yield and enantiomeric ratio (er). Use of unsaturated ester, nitrile or sulfone partners gives bridged hydroxy-diketopiperazine (DKP) products resulting from a novel Michael addition-ring closure.

Synthesis and stereochemical determination of batzelladine C methyl ester.

Batzelladine C (3) is a tricyclic guanidine alkaloid of unknown stereochemistry at one centre as well as unknown absolute stereochemistry. The two possible diastereoisomers of the methyl ester corresponding to this compound have been synthesised, permitting the relative and absolute stereochemistry of this compound to be assigned.

Discovery, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel glucokinase activators.

The identification, synthesis and SAR of a novel series of glucokinase activators is described. The interplay between lipophilicity, potency and physical properties is discussed, and compound 22 highlighted as having a suitable balance. In vivo pharmacokinetic and acute efficacy studies on this compound are also presented.