Direct Cyclopropanation of α-Cyano ß-Aryl Alkanes by Light-Mediated Single Electron Transfer Between Donor-Acceptor Pairs.

Cyclopropanes are traditionally prepared by the formal [2+1] addition of carbene or radical based C1 units to alkenes. In contrast, the one-pot intermolecular cyclopropanation of alkanes by redox active C1 units has remained unrealised. Herein, we achieved this process simply by exposing ß-aryl propionitriles and C1 radical precursors (N-oxy esters) to base and blue light. The overall process is redox-neutral and a photocatalyst, whether metal- or organic-based, is not required. Our findings support that single electron transfer (SET) from the α-cyano carbanion of the propionitrile to the N-oxy ester is facilitated by blue-light via their electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex. The α-cyano carbon radical thus formed can then lose a ß-proton to form a π-resonance stabilised radical anion that preferentially couples at the benzylic ß-position with a decarboxylated C1 radical unit. This new transition metal-free chemistry tolerates both electron rich and electron deficient (hetero)aryl systems, even sulfide or alkene functionality, to afford a range of cis-aryl/cyano cyclopropanes bearing congested tetrasubstituted quaternary carbons.

Cis Selective RCM Study to the 14-Membered Cyclic Subunit of Bielschowskysin.

A concise, (Z)-selective ring-closing metathesis (RCM) route to the 14-membered carbocycle of bielschowskysin is detailed using naturally occurring chiral starting materials. Unproductive RCM substrates were attributed to alkyne chelation of the ruthenium catalyst and steric disadvantages within the cembranoid precursors, which was eventually circumvented by using cyclic diol benzylidene protection involving a C8-quaternary carbinol center.

Mechanism of Oxidative Amidation of Nitroalkanes with Oxygen and Amine Nucleophiles by Using Electrophilic Iodine.

Recently, we developed a direct method to oxidatively convert primary nitroalkanes into amides that entailed mixing an iodonium source with an amine, base, and oxygen. Herein, we systematically investigated the mechanism and likely intermediates of such methods. We conclude that an amine-iodonium complex first forms through N-halogen bonding. This complex reacts with aci-nitronates to give both α-iodo- and α,α-diiodonitroalkanes, which can act as alternative sources of electrophilic iodine and also generate an extra equimolar amount of I(+) under O2. In particular, evidence supports α,α-diiodonitroalkane intermediates reacting with molecular oxygen to form a peroxy adduct; alternatively, these tetrahedral intermediates rearrange anaerobically to form a cleavable nitrite ester. In either case, activated esters are proposed to form that eventually reacts with nucleophilic amines in a traditional fashion.

Sterically Demanding Oxidative Amidation of α-Substituted Malononitriles with Amines Using O2.

An efficient amidation method between readily available 1,1-dicyanoalkanes and either chiral or nonchiral amines was realized simply with molecular oxygen and a carbonate base. This oxidative protocol can be applied to both sterically and electronically challenging substrates in a highly chemoselective, practical, and rapid manner. The use of cyclopropyl and thioether substrates support the radical formation of α-peroxy malononitrile species, which can cyclize to dioxiranes that can monooxygenate malononitrile α-carbanions to afford activated acyl cyanides capable of reacting with amine nucleophiles.

Oxidative Amidation of Nitroalkanes with Amine Nucleophiles using Molecular Oxygen and Iodine.

The formation of amides and peptides often necessitates powerful yet mild reagent systems. The reagents used, however, are often expensive and highly elaborate. New atom-economical and practical methods that achieve such goals are highly desirable. Ideally, the methods should start with substrates that are readily available in both chiral and non-chiral forms and utilize cheap reagents that are compatible with a wide variety of functional groups, steric encumberance, and epimerizable stereocenters. A direct oxidative method was developed to form amide and peptide bonds between amines and primary nitroalkanes simply by using I2 and K2 CO3 under O2 . Contrary to expectations, a 1:1 halogen-bonded complex forms between the iodonium source and the amine, which reacts with nitronates to form α-iodo nitroalkanes as precursors to the amides.

Lipidomic analysis of human tear fluid reveals structure-specific lipid alterations in dry eye syndrome.

As current diagnostic markers for dry eye syndrome (DES) are lacking in both sensitivity and specificity, a pressing concern exists to develop activity markers that closely align with the principal axes of disease progression. In this study, a comprehensive lipidomic platform designated for analysis of the human tear lipidome was employed to characterize changes in tear lipid compositions from a cohort of 93 subjects of different clinical subgroups classified based on the presence of dry eye symptoms and signs. Positive correlations were observed between the tear levels of cholesteryl sulfates and glycosphingolipids with physiological secretion of tears, which indicated the possible lacrimal (instead of meibomian) origin of these lipids. Notably, we found wax esters of low molecular masses and those containing saturated fatty acyl moieties were specifically reduced with disease and significantly correlated with various DES clinical parameters such as ocular surface disease index, tear breakup time, and Schirmer's I test (i.e., both symptoms and signs). These structure-specific changes in tear components with DES could potentially serve as unifying indicators of disease symptoms and signs. In addition, the structurally-specific aberrations in tear lipids reported here were found in patients with or without aqueous deficiency, suggesting a common pathology for both DES subtypes.

Total synthesis of (-)-platensimycin by advancing oxocarbenium- and iminium-mediated catalytic methods.

(-)-Platensimycin is a potent inhibitor of fatty acid synthase that holds promise in the treatment of metabolic disorders (e.g., diabetes and "fatty liver") and pathogenic infections (e.g., those caused by drug-resistant bacteria). Herein, we describe its total synthesis through a four-step preparation of the aromatic amine fragment and an improved stereocontrolled assembly of the ketolide fragment, (-)-platensic acid. Key synthetic advances include 1) a modified Lieben haloform reaction to directly convert an aryl methyl ketone into its methyl ester within 30 seconds, 2) an experimentally improved dialkylation protocol to form platensic acid, 3) a sterically controlled chemo- and diastereoselective organocatalytic conjugate reduction of a spiro-cyclized cyclohexadienone by using the trifluoroacetic acid salt of α-amino di-tert-butyl malonate, 4) a tetrabutylammonium fluoride promoted spiro-alkylative para dearomatization of a free phenol to assemble the cagelike ketolide core with the moderate leaving-group ability of an early tosylate intermediate, and 5) a bismuth(III)-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts cyclization of a free lactol, with LiClO4 as an additive to liberate a more active oxocarbenium perchlorate species and suppress the Lewis basicity of the sulfonyloxy group. The longest linear sequence is 21 steps with an overall yield of 3.8 % from commercially available eugenol.

Biomimetic total synthesis of cyanosporaside aglycons from a single enediyne precursor through site-selective p-benzyne hydrochlorination.

The cyanosporasides A-F are a collection of monochlorinated benzenoid derivatives isolated from the marine actinomycetes Salinispora and Streptomyces sp. All derivatives feature one of two types of cyanocyclopenta[a]indene frameworks, which are regioisomeric in the position of a single chlorine atom. It is proposed that these chloro-substituted benzenoids are formed biosynthetically through the cycloaromatization of a bicyclic nine-membered enediyne precursor. Herein, we report the synthesis of such a bicyclic precursor, its spontaneous transannulation into a p-benzyne, and its differential 1,4 hydrochlorination reactivity under either organochlorine or chloride-salt conditions. Our bioinspired approach culminated in the first regiodivergent total synthesis of the aglycons A/F and B/C, as well as cyanosporasides D and E. In addition, empirical insights into the site selectivity of a natural-like p-benzyne, calculated to be a ground-state triplet diradical, to hydrogen, chlorine, and chloride sources are revealed.

Transient absorption spectroscopy on spiropyran monolayers using nanosecond pump-probe Brewster angle reflectometry.

Self-assembled monolayers of 11-(3',3'-dimethyl-6,8-dinitrospiro[chromene-2,2'-indoline]-1'-yl) undecanoic acid (amphiphilic spiropyran) at the air-water interface are studied using Brewster angle reflectometry. Transient kinetics of the spiropyran to merocyanine conversion are recorded in a UV-pump, VIS-probe configuration. By varying the probe wavelength using an optical parametric oscillator, we are able to reconstruct absorption spectra of intermediate states with a time-resolution of 10 nanoseconds, limited by the temporal convolution of the two laser pulses. After UV irradiation, spiropyran converts to merocyanine in two stages. The first occurs within a timescale of several tens of nanoseconds and is heavily convoluted with the system response time, whereas the second stage occurs over a few hundred nanoseconds. During the rise time there is a small red shift in the transient absorption spectrum of ~20 nm. We assign the red shift and the slower kinetics to the isomerization of a merocyanine isomer cis about the central methine bond to those that are trans about the same bond.

Nitroalkanes as thioacyl equivalents to access thioamides and thiopeptides.

Thioamides are an important, but a largely underexplored class of amide bioisostere in peptides. Replacement of oxoamide units with thioamides in peptide therapeutics is a valuable tactic to improve biological activity and resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis. This tactic, however, has been hampered by insufficient methods to introduce thioamide bonds into peptide or protein backbones in a site-specific and stereo-retentive fashion. In this work, we developed an efficient and mild thioacylation method to react nitroalkanes with amines directly in the presence of elemental sulfur and sodium sulfide to form a diverse range of thioamides in high yields. Notably, this convenient method can be employed for the controlled thioamide coupling of multifunctionalized peptides without epimerization of stereocenters, including the late stage thioacylation of advanced compounds of biological and medicinal interest. Experimental interrogation of postulated mechanisms currently supports the intermediacy of thioacyl species.

Parasite-based screening and proteome profiling reveal orlistat, an FDA-approved drug, as a potential anti Trypanosoma brucei agent.

Trypanosoma brucei is a parasite that causes African sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in livestock and is transmitted by the tsetse fly. There is an urgent need for the development of new drugs against African trypanosomiasis due to the lack of vaccines and effective drugs. Orlistat (also called tetrahydrolipstatin or THL) is an FDA-approved antiobesity drug targeting primarily the pancreatic and gastric lipases within the gastrointestinal tract. It shows potential activities against tumors, mycobacteria, and parasites. Herein, we report the synthesis and evaluation of an expanded set of orlistat-like compounds, some of which showed highly potent trypanocidal activities in both the bloodstream form (BSF) and the procyclic form (PCF) of T. brucei. Subsequent in situ parasite-based proteome profiling was carried out to elucidate potential cellular targets of the drug in both forms. Some newly identified targets were further validated by the labeling of recombinantly expressed enzymes in Escherichia coli lysates. Bioimaging experiments with a selected compound were carried out to study the cellular uptake of the drug in T. brucei. Results indicated that orlistat is much more efficiently taken up by the BSF than the PCF of T. brucei and has clear effects on the morphology of mitochondria, glycosomes, and the endoplasmic reticulum in both BSF and PCF cells. These results support specific effects of orlistat on these organelles and correlate well with our in situ proteome profiling. Given the economic challenges of de novo drug development for neglected diseases, we hope that our findings will stimulate further research towards the conversion of orlistat-like compounds into new trypanocidal drugs.

Phosphine-catalyzed activation of cyclopropenones: a versatile C3 synthon for (3+2) annulations with unsaturated electrophiles.

We herein report a phosphine-catalyzed (3 + 2) annulation of cyclopropenones with a wide variety of electrophilic π systems, including aldehydes, ketoesters, imines, isocyanates, and carbodiimides, offering products of butenolides, butyrolactams, maleimides, and iminomaleimides, respectively, in high yields with broad substrate scope. An α-ketenyl phosphorous ylide is validated as the key intermediate, which undergoes preferential catalytic cyclization with aldehydes rather than stoichiometric Wittig olefinations. This phosphine-catalyzed activation of cyclopropenones thus supplies a versatile C3 synthon for formal cycloadditon reactions.

Activity-based proteome profiling of potential cellular targets of Orlistat--an FDA-approved drug with anti-tumor activities.

Orlistat, or tetrahydrolipstatin (THL), is an FDA-approved antiobesity drug with potential antitumor activities. Cellular off-targets and potential side effects of Orlistat in cancer therapies, however, have not been extensively explored thus far. In this study, we report the total of synthesis of THL-like protein-reactive probes, in which extremely conservative modifications (i.e., an alkyne handle) were introduced in the parental THL structure to maintain the native biological properties of Orlistat, while providing the necessary functionality for target identification via the bio-orthogonal click chemistry. With these natural productlike, cell-permeable probes, we were able to demonstrate, for the first time, this chemical proteomic approach is suitable for the identification of previously unknown cellular targets of Orlistat. In addition to the expected fatty acid synthase (FAS), we identified a total of eight new targets, some of which were further validated by experiments including Western blotting, recombinant protein expression, and site-directed mutagenesis. Our findings have important implications in the consideration of Orlistat as a potential anticancer drug at its early stages of development for cancer therapy. Our strategy should be broadly useful for off-target identification against quite a number of existing drugs and/or candidates, which are also covalent modifiers of their biological targets.

Transient Brewster angle reflectometry of spiropyran monolayers.

Brewster angle reflectometry has been developed as a tool for determining the absorbance and refractive index changes in molecular monolayers containing spiropyran. The method is sensitive to changes in both the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index in the monolayers. It was used to monitor the conversion of spiropyran to merocyanine and the reversal of this reaction when the molecules were immobilised on quartz using silane coupling. An analytical solution of Fresnel formula allowed the transient reflectometry data to be converted into transient absorption information. Absorbances of transients as low as approximately 10(-6) were possible using the current apparatus with a single laser pulse transient measurement. It was found that spiropyran photoconverted to merocyanine with an efficiency of approximately 0.1. The photochemical reversion of converted merocyanine to spiropyran occurred with efficiencies of 0.03-0.2 and this was probably site dependent. It was found that the thermal conversion from merocyanine to spiropyran was slow and even after 10 min there was no significant thermal reversion. This measurement was possible because the real part of the refractive index of the monolayer could be monitored with time using an off-resonance probe at a wavelength where the merocyanine did not absorb light meaning that the probe did not photobleach the sample. Thus our method also provides a non-intrusive method for probing changes in molecules in thin films.

Practical synthesis of maleimides and coumarin-linked probes for protein and antibody labelling via reduction of native disulfides.

The cellular tracking, detection and sensing of protein or antibody movement are important aspects to advance our understanding of biomolecular interactions and activity. Antibodies modified with fluorescent dyes are also valuable tools, especially in immunology research. We describe here a proof-of-principle study of a new water-soluble coumarin probe with a maleimide thiol-reacting unit to fluorescently tag biomolecules. Highlights include: (1) a convenient water-based preparation of N-substituted maleimides, (2) a one-pot preparation of activated maleimido-esters, and (3) a bio-conjugation protocol for the selenol-promoted reduction of native disulfide bonds and the 'site-specific' labelling of antibodies with no significant loss of activity.

Laetirobin from the parasitic growth of Laetiporus sulphureus on Robinia pseudoacacia.

(+/-)-Laetirobin (1) was isolated as a cytostatic lead from Laetiporus sulphureus growing parasitically on the black locust tree, Robinia pseudoacacia, by virtue of a reverse-immunoaffinity system. Using an LC/MS procedure, milligram quantities of (+/-)-laetirobin (1) were obtained, and the structure of 1 was elucidated by X-ray crystallography and confirmed by NMR spectroscopy. Preliminary cellular studies indicated that (+/-)-laetirobin (1) rapidly enters in tumor cells, blocks cell division at a late stage of mitosis, and invokes apoptosis.

A convergent total synthesis of the kedarcidin chromophore: 20-years in the making.

The kedarcidin chromophore is a formidible target for total synthesis. Herein, we describe a viable synthesis of this highly unstable natural product. This entailed the early introduction and gram-scale synthesis of 2-deoxysugar conjugates of both L-mycarose and L-kedarosamine. Key advances include: (1) stereoselective allenylzinc keto-addition to form an epoxyalkyne; (2) α-selective glycosylations with 2-deoxy thioglycosides (AgPF6/DTBMP) and Schmidt donors (TiCl4); (3) Mitsunobu aryl etherification to install a hindered 1,2-cis-configuration; (4) atropselective and convergent Sonogashira-Shiina cyclization sequence; (5) Ohfune-based amidation protocol for naphthoic acid; (6) Ce(III)-mediated nine-membered enediyne cyclization and ester/mesylate derivatisation; (7) SmI2-based reductive olefination and global HF-deprotection end-game. The longest linear sequence from gram-scale intermediates is 17-steps, and HRMS data of the synthetic natural product was obtained for the first time.

Identification of the binding of sceptrin to MreB via a bidirectional affinity protocol.

A bidirectional affinity system was used to screen for marine natural products that bound to Escherichia coli proteins. A system was developed and applied to isolate the natural product sceptrin from an Agelas conifera extract and its affinity partner MreB from E. coli lysate. The use of a dual immunoaffinity fluorescent (IAF) tag permitted this process to co-immunoprecipitate the bacterial equivalent of actin, MreB, from E. coli lysate. MreB was subsequently validated as a target for sceptrin using a resistance mapping approach. The combination of these studies suggests that natural products and their protein targets can be isolated in concert using a melody of forward and reverse affinity matrices. While the structure of sceptrin was elucidated by NMR analysis, the bulk of effort was conducted without knowing the structure of the natural product, thereby elevating a key bottleneck in the development of high-throughput methods for natural product discovery.

Autoinductive conversion of α,α-diiodonitroalkanes to amides and esters catalysed by iodine byproducts under O2.

Studies to convert nitroalkanes into amides and esters using I2 and O2 revealed in situ-generated iodine species facilitate the homolytic C-I bond cleavage of α,α-diiodonitroalkanes, arguably in an autoinductive or autocatalytic manner. Consequently, we devised a rapid and economical I2/O2-based method to synthesise sterically hindered esters directly from primary nitroalkanes.

Synthesis of the entire carbon framework of the kedarcidin chromophore aglycon.

In advanced studies directed toward the total synthesis of the kedarcidin chromophore, we have successfully achieved the late-stage installation of the nine-membered diyne ring in the presence of the highly functionalised ansamacrocyclic bridge.