Peptides and peptidoaldehydes as substrates for the Pictet-Spengler reaction.

The Pictet-Spengler (PS) reaction was performed with various types of substrates: H-Trp-OMe and dipeptides with N-terminal Trp as arylethylamine components and Z-protected amino aldehydes and peptidoaldehydes as carbonyl components. We found that the C-terminal part of Trp derivatives did not have any influence on the stereoselectivity of the reaction and the results are the same for simple esters of Trp and dipeptides. On the contrary, the selectivity of the PS reaction with peptidoaldehydes with L configuration of the C-terminus residue is totally different from that obtained with simple L-amino aldehydes. It allows us to obtain cis stereoisomers, which cannot be isolated from the reaction with amino aldehydes. But the utility of the peptidoaldehydes as substrates for the PS reaction is reduced by the side formation of enamides which decrease the yield of cyclization.

New tetracyclic tetrahydro-beta-carbolines as tryptophan-derived peptidomimetics.

The Pictet-Spengler reaction is known as a useful tool for the synthesis of constrained analogs of tryptophan. Herein, we present the further cyclization of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid methyl esters with 1-(1'-aminoalkyl) side chain. These transformations lead to heterocyclic structures which can find useful applications in medicinal chemistry as peptide mimetics.

Microwave-enhanced solid-phase synthesis of N,N'-linked aliphatic oligoureas and related hybrids.

A practical and efficient microwave-assisted solid-phase method for the synthesis of N,N'-linked oligoureas and related amide/urea hybrid oligomers, featuring the use of succinimidyl (2-azido-2-substituted ethyl) carbamate monomers, is reported. The rate enhancement of urea formation under microwave irradiation combined with the mild conditions of the phosphine-based azide reduction makes this approach very effective for routine synthesis of oligoureas and possibly for library production.

Pictet-Spengler reactions for the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant heterocycles.

The synthesis of biologically active heterocyclic scaffolds is one of the significant challenges of modern synthetic chemistry. The Pictet-Spengler (PS) reaction, known for approximately a century, remains a particularly popular cyclization method. This review describes recent applications of the PS reaction in the total synthesis of alkaloids and biologically active analogs of tetrahydroisoquinoline and tetrahydro-ß-carboline. The utility of PS cyclization in the synthesis of a range of heterocyclic scaffolds is also described.

pH and temperature-sensitive N-isopropylacrylamide ampholytic networks incorporating L-lysine.

Ampholytic polymer gels based on N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) and natural amino acid L-lysine were prepared by free radical polymerization in aqueous solutions. To make amino acids attachable to the polymer chain, the acrylic group was added to the epsilon-amino group of lysine to obtain N-epsilon-acrylic-lysine (Z). Finally, a new temperature- and pH-sensitive (NIPA-Z) hydrogel was obtained. The presence of amino and carboxylic groups of amino acids gave us a possibility to control the amount and sign of the excessive charge on the polymeric network with respect to pH. The swelling behavior of the NIPA-Z hydrogels with respect to the amount of Z (0-4%), temperature, and pH was investigated. Temperature and pH were changed in the ranges of 20-50 degrees C and 2-12, respectively. To eliminate the influence of ionic strength on the swelling behavior, this parameter was kept constant in all experiments. It was found that the pH dependence of the degree of swelling for the NIPA-Z gels, measured at constant temperature, exhibits a minimum. Such a minimum was seen for the ampholyte networks with independent acidic and basic groups attached to the polymer chains. For the NIPA-Z gels, the minimum was wide, and the pH range over which it was spread corresponded well to the pH distribution of the zwitterions. The way the gel volume changed with an increase in temperature depends on the amino acid amount. It is initially discontinuous and turns to the continuous one for the higher percentage of amino acid. The temperature dependence of the swelling process obtained for different pH values clearly shows that for the pH region where the zwitterions dominate, the polymer networks collapse more efficiently.