Regiodivergent biosynthesis of bridged bicyclononanes.

Medicinal compounds from plants include bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane derivatives, the majority of which are polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs). Prototype molecules are hyperforin, the antidepressant constituent of St. John's wort, and garcinol, a potential anticancer compound. Their complex structures have inspired innovative chemical syntheses, however, their biosynthesis in plants is still enigmatic. PPAPs are divided into two subclasses, named type A and B. Here we identify both types in Hypericum sampsonii plants and isolate two enzymes that regiodivergently convert a common precursor to pivotal type A and B products. Molecular modelling and substrate docking studies reveal inverted substrate binding modes in the two active site cavities. We identify amino acids that stabilize these alternative binding scenarios and use reciprocal mutagenesis to interconvert the enzymatic activities. Our studies elucidate the unique biochemistry that yields type A and B bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane cores in plants, thereby providing key building blocks for biotechnological efforts to sustainably produce these complex compounds for preclinical development.

Discovery of a novel anti-osteoporotic agent from marine fungus-derived structurally diverse sirenins.

Thirteen new sirenin derivatives named eupenicisirenins C-O (1-13), along with a biosynthetically related known one (14), were isolated from the mangrove sediment-derived fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO 41410. The structures, which possessed a rare cyclopropane moiety, were confirmed by extensive analyses of the spectroscopic data, quantum chemical calculations, and X-ray diffraction. Among them, eupenicisirenin C (1) exhibited the strongest NF-κB inhibitory activities, as well as suppressing effects on cGAS-STING pathway. Moreover, 1 showed the significant inhibitory effect on RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow macrophages cells, and also displayed the therapeutic potential on prednisolone-induced zebrafish osteoporosis. Transcriptome analysis and the following verification tests suggested that its anti-osteoporotic mechanism is related to the extracellular matrix receptor interaction-related pathways. This study provided a promising marine-derived anti-osteoporotic agent for the treatment of skeletal disease.

Photochemical Intermolecular [3σ + 2σ]-Cycloaddition for the Construction of Aminobicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes.

The development of synthetic strategies for the preparation of bioisosteric compounds is a demanding undertaking in medicinal chemistry. Numerous strategies have been developed for the synthesis of bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes (BCPs), bridge-substituted BCPs, and bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes. However, progress on the synthesis of bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes, which serve as meta-substituted arene bioisosteres, has not been previously explored. Herein, we disclose the first photoinduced [3σ + 2σ] cycloaddition for the synthesis of trisubstituted bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes using bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes and cyclopropylamines. This transformation not only uses mild and operationally simple conditions but also provides unique meta-substituted arene bioisosteres. The applicability of this method is showcased by simple derivatization reactions.

Enantioselective Michael Addition/Cyclization/Desymmetrization Sequence of Prochiral Cyclic Hemiacetals and Nitroolefins: Synthesis of Chiral Oxygen-Bridged Bicyclic Compounds.

The organocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition of functionalized prochiral cyclic hemiacetals and nitroolefins has been developed under cooperative enamine and hydrogen bond catalysis. The obtained chiral hemiacetal intermediates could be used in the subsequent diastereocontrolled cyclization/desymmetrization divergent process to access (1) 9-oxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane or 8-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane frameworks via oxocarbenium ion-mediated Friedel-Crafts cyclization, and (2) 2,9-dioxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane frameworks via intramolecular nucleophilic cyclization. Experimental results suggest that there is neighboring group participation controlling the diastereoselectivities of the desymmetrization process.

Preparation of new bicyclo[2.1.1]hexane compact modules: an opening towards novel sp3-rich chemical space.

Among the valuable saturated bicyclic structures incorporated in newly developed bio-active compounds, bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes are playing an increasingly important role, while being still underexplored from a synthetic accessibility point of view. Here, we disclose an efficient and modular approach toward new 1,2-disubstituted bicyclo[2.1.1]hexane modules. Our strategy is based on the use of photochemistry to access new building blocks via [2 + 2] cycloaddition. The system can readily be derivatized with numerous transformations, opening the gate to sp3-rich new chemical space.

Synthesis of meta-substituted arene bioisosteres from [3.1.1]propellane.

Small-ring cage hydrocarbons are popular bioisosteres (molecular replacements) for commonly found para-substituted benzene rings in drug design1. The utility of these cage structures derives from their superior pharmacokinetic properties compared with their parent aromatics, including improved solubility and reduced susceptibility to metabolism2,3. A prime example is the bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane motif, which is mainly synthesized by ring-opening of the interbridgehead bond of the strained hydrocarbon [1.1.1]propellane with radicals or anions4. By contrast, scaffolds mimicking meta-substituted arenes are lacking because of the challenge of synthesizing saturated isosteres that accurately reproduce substituent vectors5. Here we show that bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes (BCHeps), which are hydrocarbons for which the bridgehead substituents map precisely onto the geometry of meta-substituted benzenes, can be conveniently accessed from [3.1.1]propellane. We found that [3.1.1]propellane can be synthesized on a multigram scale, and readily undergoes a range of radical-based transformations to generate medicinally relevant carbon- and heteroatom-substituted BCHeps, including pharmaceutical analogues. Comparison of the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties of these analogues reveals enhanced metabolic stability relative to their parent arene-containing drugs, validating the potential of this meta-arene analogue as an sp3-rich motif in drug design. Collectively, our results show that BCHeps can be prepared on useful scales using a variety of methods, offering a new surrogate for meta-substituted benzene rings for implementation in drug discovery programmes.

Investigating Bicyclobutane-Triazolinedione Cycloadditions as a Tool for Peptide Modification.

Acyl bicyclobutanes are shown to engage in strain-promoted cycloaddition reactions with a diverse array of triazolinedione reagents. The synthesis of an orthogonally protected urazole building block enabled the facile preparation of amino acid- and peptide-derived triazolinediones that undergo cycloaddition reactions to afford novel peptide conjugates. The additive-free and fully atom-economical nature of the transformation is a promising starting point for the generalization of this cycloaddition reaction for the functionalization of biomolecules.

Bicyclic Picomolar OGA Inhibitors Enable Chemoproteomic Mapping of Its Endogenous Post-translational Modifications.

Owing to its roles in human health and disease, the modification of nuclear, cytoplasmic, and mitochondrial proteins with O-linked N-acetylglucosamine residues (O-GlcNAc) has emerged as a topic of great interest. Despite the presence of O-GlcNAc on hundreds of proteins within cells, only two enzymes regulate this modification. One of these enzymes is O-GlcNAcase (OGA), a dimeric glycoside hydrolase that has a deep active site cleft in which diverse substrates are accommodated. Chemical tools to control OGA are emerging as essential resources for helping to decode the biochemical and cellular functions of the O-GlcNAc pathway. Here we describe rationally designed bicyclic thiazolidine inhibitors that exhibit superb selectivity and picomolar inhibition of human OGA. Structures of these inhibitors in complex with human OGA reveal the basis for their exceptional potency and show that they extend out of the enzyme active site cleft. Leveraging this structure, we create a high affinity chemoproteomic probe that enables simple one-step purification of endogenous OGA from brain and targeted proteomic mapping of its post-translational modifications. These data uncover a range of new modifications, including some that are less-known, such as O-ubiquitination and N-formylation. We expect that these inhibitors and chemoproteomics probes will prove useful as fundamental tools to decipher the mechanisms by which OGA is regulated and directed to its diverse cellular substrates. Moreover, the inhibitors and structures described here lay out a blueprint that will enable the creation of chemical probes and tools to interrogate OGA and other carbohydrate active enzymes.

Synthesis of sp3-rich chiral bicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes for chemical space expansion and study of biological activities.

Chiral sp3-rich bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane scaffolds 10-12 were synthesized as single diastereomers from aldehyde 9, which was prepared from 4,4-dimethoxycyclohexa-2,5-dienone through a copper-catalyzed enantioselective reduction. Three different types of intramolecular addition reactions were studied: SmI2-mediated reductive cyclization, base-promoted aldol reaction, and one-pot Mannich reaction. We succeeded in introducing three side-chains to scaffold 11 and construct an sp3-rich compound library in both enantiomeric variants by simply changing the chirality of the ligands. The biological evaluation revealed that all synthesized compounds exhibited a concentration-dependent inhibition of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) transcriptional activity, with IC50 values in the range of 17.2-31.7 µM, whereas their effects on cell viability were varied (IC50 = 3.5 to > 100 µM). The most active compound 16f inhibits the accumulation of HIF-1α protein and mRNA in hypoxia, indicating that it has a mechanism of action distinctly different from other known compounds bearing the common bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane skeleton.

Photochemical Formal (4 + 2)-Cycloaddition of Imine-Substituted Bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes and Alkenes.

Amines containing bridged bicyclic carbon skeletons are desirable building blocks for medicinal chemistry. Herein, we report the conversion of bicyclo[1.1.1]pentan-1-amines to a wide range of polysubstituted bicyclo[3.1.1]heptan-1-amines through a photochemical, formal (4 + 2)-cycloaddition of an intermediate imine diradical. To our knowledge, this is the first reported method to convert the bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane skeleton to the bicyclo[3.1.1]heptane skeleton. Hydrolysis of the imine products gives complex, sp3-rich primary amine building blocks.

Molecular Transformation Based on an Innovative Catalytic System.

Novel innovative catalytic systems such as hydrogen-bond donors and thiourea hybrid catalysts have been developed for the asymmetric synthesis of biologically important pharmaceuticals and natural products. Benzothiadiazines possess a stronger hydrogen-bond donor ability compared to thioureas and exhibit remarkable catalytic performance for the activation of α,ß-unsaturated amides. Hybrid thioureas (bearing an arylboronic acid and an ammonium salt) efficiently promote the hetero-Michael addition to α,ß-unsaturated carboxylic acids and the O-alkylation of keto enols with 5-chlorofuran-2(5H)-one. These hybrid catalysts enable the first total synthesis of non-racemic avenaol, a noncanonical strigolactone, as well as the asymmetric synthesis of several pharmaceuticals. In addition, this study discovers unique chemical phenomena (i.e., the dual role of benzoic acid as a boron ligand and a proton shuttle, the chirality switch of products by solvent used, and the dynamic kinetic resolution of a racemic electrophile in an SN2-type reaction).

Allosteric modulators enhance agonist efficacy by increasing the residence time of a GPCR in the active state.

Much hope in drug development comes from the discovery of positive allosteric modulators (PAM) that display target subtype selectivity and act by increasing agonist potency and efficacy. How such compounds can allosterically influence agonist action remains unclear. Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGlu) are G protein-coupled receptors that represent promising targets for brain diseases, and for which PAMs acting in the transmembrane domain have been developed. Here, we explore the effect of a PAM on the structural dynamics of mGlu2 in optimized detergent micelles using single molecule FRET at submillisecond timescales. We show that glutamate only partially stabilizes the extracellular domains in the active state. Full activation is only observed in the presence of a PAM or the Gi protein. Our results provide important insights on the role of allosteric modulators in mGlu activation, by stabilizing the active state of a receptor that is otherwise rapidly oscillating between active and inactive states.

An intramolecular coupling approach to alkyl bioisosteres for the synthesis of multisubstituted bicycloalkyl boronates.

Bicyclic hydrocarbons, and bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes (BCPs) in particular, are playing an emerging role as saturated bioisosteres in pharmaceutical, agrochemical and materials chemistry. Taking advantage of strain-release strategies, prior synthetic studies have featured the synthesis of bridgehead-substituted (C1, C3) BCPs from [1.1.1]propellane. Here, we describe an approach to access multisubstituted BCPs via intramolecular cyclization. In addition to C1,C3-disubstituted BCPs, this method also enables the construction of underexplored multisubstituted (C1, C2 and C3) BCPs from readily accessible cyclobutanones. The broad generality of this method has also been examined through the synthesis of a variety of other caged bicyclic molecules, ranging from [2.1.1] to [3.2.1] scaffolds. The modularity afforded by the pendant bridgehead boron pinacol esters generated during the cyclization reaction has been demonstrated through several downstream functionalizations, highlighting the ability of this approach to enable the programmed and divergent synthesis of multisubstituted bicyclic hydrocarbons.

Synthesis of the Bridged [5-7-7] Tricyclic Core of Eurifoloid A.

We herein describe a new approach for the efficient and asymmetric construction of the tricyclic core of eurifoloid A, which possesses a unique and highly strained bicyclo[4.4.1] ring system. A rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular [3 + 2] dipolar cycloaddition was developed to install synthetically challenging bridged bicyclo[4.3.1] ring systems. The reported chemistry shows the feasibility of constructing the eurifoloid A framework using a diastereoselective intramolecular [3 + 2] cycloaddition and a ring enlargement.

New ß-ketophosphonates for the synthesis of prostaglandin analogues. 1. Phosphonates with a bicyclo[3.3.0]octene scaffold spaced by a methylene group from the ß-ketone.

The synthesis of ß-ketophosphonates, linked by a methylene group to a bicyclo[3.3.0]octene fragment, was performed by the reaction of dimethyl methanephosphonate with the ester group of two intermediates with this scaffold. Starting from a diol, protected with good leaving groups (mesyl and tosyl), we performed a sequence of reactions with good yields: the carbon chain lengthening by reaction with KCN, the hydrolysis of the nitrile groups to carboxyl, the esterification of carboxyl to ester and finally the phosphonate synthesis, which gave one bis-ß-ketophosphonate and two mono ß-ketophosphonates. The new ß-ketophosphonates are key intermediates for obtaining new prostaglandin analogues with a bicyclo[3.3.0]octene fragment in the ω-side chain. The bicyclo[3.3.0]octane scaffold, found in natural products and in anticancer compounds, are expected to keep their activity in PG analogs; the bulky scaffold, separated by a methylene group from the C-15 carbon atom, is expected to diminish the inactivation of the PG analog by enzyme oxidation of 15α-OH oxidation to 15-Keto via PGDH pathway.

Enantioselective Total Synthesis of (+)-Garsubellin†A.

Garsubellin A is a meroterpene capable of enhancing the enzyme choline acetyltransferase whose decreased level is believed to play a central role in the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Due to the potentially useful biological activity together with the novel bridged and fused cyclic molecular architecture, garsubellin A has garnered substantial synthetic interest, but its absolute stereostructure has been undetermined. We report here the first enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-garsubellin A. Our synthesis relies on stereoselective fashioning of a cyclohexanone framework and double conjugate addition of 1,2-ethanedithiol that promotes aldol cyclization to build the bicyclic [3.3.1] skeleton. The twelve-step, protecting group-free synthetic route has enabled the syntheses of both the natural (-)-garsubellin A and its unnatural (+)-antipode for biological evaluations.

Total Synthesis and Assignment of the Absolute Configuration of (+)-Omphalic Acid.

Omphalane diterpenoids usually contain a cyclohexane-fused bicyclo[3.2.1]octane scaffold embedded with two continuous quaternary carbon centers, which pose considerable challenges to synthetic chemists. Herein, we reported the first total synthesis of omphalic acid with high stereochemical control, featuring an intermolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition, ring reorganization through Criegee oxidative cleavage and programmed aldol condensations, conformationally controlled hydrogenation, and Pd-catalyzed carboxylation. The absolute configuration of omphalic acid was defined for the first time via the asymmetric total synthesis facilitated by a derivatization resolution protocol.

Simultaneous Determination of Human Serum Albumin and Low-Molecular-Weight Thiols after Derivatization with Monobromobimane.

Biothiols are extremely powerful antioxidants that protect cells against the effects of oxidative stress. They are also considered relevant disease biomarkers, specifically risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In this paper, a new procedure for the simultaneous determination of human serum albumin and low-molecular-weight thiols in plasma is described. The method is based on the pre-column derivatization of analytes with a thiol-specific fluorescence labeling reagent, monobromobimane, followed by separation and quantification through reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (excitation, 378 nm; emission, 492 nm). Prior to the derivatization step, the oxidized thiols are converted to their reduced forms by reductive cleavage with sodium borohydride. Linearity in the detector response for total thiols was observed in the following ranges: 1.76-30.0 mg mL-1 for human serum albumin, 0.29-5.0 nmol mL-1 for α-lipoic acid, 1.16-35 nmol mL-1 for glutathione, 9.83-450.0 nmol mL-1 for cysteine, 0.55-40.0 nmol mL-1 for homocysteine, 0.34-50.0 nmol mL-1 for N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and 1.45-45.0 nmol mL-1 for cysteinylglycine. Recovery values of 85.16-119.48% were recorded for all the analytes. The developed method is sensitive, repeatable, and linear within the expected ranges of total thiols. The devised procedure can be applied to plasma samples to monitor biochemical processes in various pathophysiological states.

A convenient fluorometric test method for skin sensitization using glutathione in chemico.

A convenient fluorometrical test method to identify skin sensitizers in chemico was developed using reactivity with glutathione (GSH), a low molecular weight endogenous substance. Following incubation of test chemicals with GSH, the remaining GSH was quantitated fluorometrically by using monobromobimane (mBBr), a thiol-detecting agent, for determining % depletion of this endogenous substance by test chemicals. The experimental conditions optimized were: (1) reactivity of thiol compounds including GSH with mBBr, (2) effects of vehicles on reactivity, (3) molar ratios of GSH to test chemicals, and (4) reactivity of endogenous substance with test substances under different incubation times. When an optimized condition with DMSO as a vehicle for test chemicals and in 1:60 ratio for 24 hr at 4°C was applied to classify 48 well-known skin sensitizers and non-sensitizers, the predictive capacity was as follows: 88.2% sensitivity, 78.6% specificity, and 85.4% accuracy with 95.8% consistency of three trials when 10.3% depletion of GSH was used as a cutoff value. Because the present method employed relatively simple GSH as an acceptor for sensitizers and/or a relatively convenient fluorometric detection system in 96-well plates for a high throughput test, it would be a useful test tool for screening skin sensitization potential of test chemicals.