Scalable total synthesis of (+)-aniduquinolone A and its acid-catalyzed rearrangement to aflaquinolones.

The strong antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer activities demonstrated by quinolones make them promising lead structures and important synthetic targets for drug discovery. Here, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first scalable total synthesis of antiviral (+)-aniduquinolone A, possessing a 3,4-dioxygenated 5-hydroxy-4-aryl-quinolin-2(1H)-one skeleton. This synthetic strategy explores E-stereoselective Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons (HWE) olefination as the key step to assemble isopropenyl substituted tetrahydrofuran onto the 3,4-dioxygenated 5-hydroxy-4-aryl-quinolin-2(1H)-one core, which is built by highly diastereoselective intramolecular aldol reaction. Moreover, two sets of stereoisomers of aniduquinolone A with substantially overlapping NMR data were synthesized completely and assigned unambiguously by comprehensive analysis of both their spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction data. Unexpectedly, aflaquinolones A, C, and D that feature different 2,4-dimethyl cyclohexanone moieties were transformed successfully from (+)-aniduquinolone A by treating with TFA. The methodology delineated herein can be applied broadly to the synthesis of natural alkaloids containing the core structure of 3,4-dioxygenated 5-hydroxy-4-aryl-quinolin-2(1H)-one.

Design, semisynthesis, α-glucosidase inhibitory, cytotoxic, and antibacterial activities of p-terphenyl derivatives.

Terphenyllin (1), a naturally abundant p-terphenyl metabolite, was isolated from the coral derived fungus Aspergillus candidus together with four natural analogues 2-5. To evaluate their potency and selectivity, a series of new derivatives of 1 were designed and semisynthesized. They were evaluated for their α-glucosidase inhibitory, cytotoxic, and antibacterial activities. Compounds 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 21, 23, 24, 29, 39, and 40 showed significant α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 4.79-15 µM, which were stronger than that of the positive controls, 1-deoxynojirimycin (IC50 = 192.0 µM) and acarbose (IC50 = 707.9 µM). Compounds 7 and 10 have relatively higher therapeutic indices (CC50/IC50 = 17 and 10, respectively), representing potential promising leads. The enzyme kinetic studies of compounds 1 and 24 showed a non-competitive inhibition on α-glucosidase with Ki values of 1.50 and 3.45 µM, respectively. Additionally, compounds 14, 21, 26, 29, 32, 35, and 37 were found to exhibit strong cytotoxicity against three tumor cell lines A549 (lung adenocarcinoma epithelial), HeLa (cervical carcinoma), and HepG2 (hepatocellular liver carcinoma) with IC50 values ranging from 0.15 to 5.26 µM. Further study indicated that 32 could induce S-phase arrest in the cell cycle progression.

Bastimolide B, an Antimalarial 24-Membered Marine Macrolide Possessing a tert-Butyl Group.

We reported previously the discovery of the potent antimalarial 40-membered macrolide bastimolide A (1) from the tropical marine cyanobacterium Okeania hirsute. Continued investigation has led to the discovery of a new analogue, bastimolide B (2), a 24-membered polyhydroxy macrolide with a long aliphatic chain and unique terminal tert-butyl group. Its complete structure was determined by a combination of extensive spectroscopic methods and comparative analysis of its methanolysis products with those of bastimolide A. A methanolysis mechanism for bastimolide A is proposed, and one unexpected isomerization product of the C2-C3 double bond, 2-(E)-bastimolide A (3), was obtained. Bastimolide B (2) showed strong antimalarial activity against chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium falciparum strain HB3. A preliminary investigation of the structure-activity relationship based on six analogues revealed the importance of the double bond as well as the 1,3-diol and 1,3,5-triol functionalities.

Scopuquinolone B, a new monoterpenoid dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-one isolated from the coral-derived Scopulariopsis sp. fungus.

Further chemical investigation of the secondary metabolites of the fungus Scopulariopsis sp. led to the discovery of a new alkaloid, scopuquinolone B (1). The structure of compound 1 was elucidated by extensive NMR spectroscopic data, CD spectrum and analysis of its Dess-Martin oxidation derivative. Compound 1 was evaluated for antilarval settlement activity of barnacle Balanus amphitrite and showed promising antifouling activity with an EC50 value of 0.103 µM and a high therapeutic ratio of 222.