Highly efficient asymmetric synthesis of sitagliptin.

A highly efficient synthesis of sitagliptin, a potent and selective DPP-4 inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), has been developed. The key dehydrositagliptin intermediate 9 is prepared in three steps in one pot and directly isolated in 82% yield and >99.6 wt % purity. Highly enantioselective hydrogenation of dehydrositagliptin 9, with as low as 0.15 mol % of Rh(I)/(t)Bu JOSIPHOS, affords sitagliptin, which is finally isolated as its phosphate salt with nearly perfect optical and chemical purity. This environmentally friendly, 'green' synthesis significantly reduces the total waste generated per kilogram of sitagliptin produced in comparison with the first-generation route and completely eliminates aqueous waste streams. The efficiency of this cost-effective process, which has been implemented on manufacturing scale, results in up to 65% overall isolated yield.

Synthesis of [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-alpha]piperazines via highly reactive chloromethyloxadiazoles.

[reaction: see text] A concise, modular approach for the synthesis of [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-alpha]piperazines via condensation of highly reactive chloromethyloxadiazoles with ethylenediamines is described. NMR studies of this reaction provide evidence that suggests a novel activation mechanism for electron-deficient chloromethyloxadiazoles.

Detection and elimination of product inhibition from the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of enamines.

[reaction: see text] The catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of enamine amides and esters with catalyst Rh-1a, prepared from ferrocenyl based ligand 1a or 1b and [(COD)RhCl](2), has been shown through kinetic studies to suffer from product inhibition. Enamine ester substrates have also been shown to be incompatible with the amine products of the reaction in methanol. In situ protection of the amine products with di-tert-butyl dicarbonate eliminates functional group incompatibility of ester substrates and eliminates product inhibition in the reaction.

Oxopyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines as Covalent L858R/T790M Mutant Selective Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Inhibitors.

In nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the threonine(790)-methionine(790) (T790M) point mutation of EGFR kinase is one of the leading causes of acquired resistance to the first generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as gefitinib and erlotinib. Herein, we describe the optimization of a series of 7-oxopyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidinyl-derived irreversible inhibitors of EGFR kinase. This led to the discovery of compound 24 which potently inhibits gefitinib-resistant EGFR(L858R,T790M) with 100-fold selectivity over wild-type EGFR. Compound 24 displays strong antiproliferative activity against the H1975 nonsmall cell lung cancer cell line, the first line mutant HCC827 cell line, and promising antitumor activity in an EGFR(L858R,T790M) driven H1975 xenograft model sparing the side effects associated with the inhibition of wild-type EGFR.

Remote desymmetrization at near-nanometer group separation catalyzed by a miniaturized enzyme mimic.

The chirality of biological receptors often requires syntheses of therapeutic compounds in single enantiomer form. The field of asymmetric catalysis addresses enantioselective synthesis with chiral catalysts. Chemical differentiation of sites within molecules that are separated in space by long distances presents special challenges to chiral catalysts. As the distance between enantiotopic sites increases within a substrate, so too may the requirements for size and complexity for the catalyst. The extreme of catalyst complexity could be defined by macromolecular enzymes and their amazing capacity to effect stereospecific reactions over long distances between reactive sites and enzyme-substrate contacts. We report here a synthetic, miniaturized enzyme mimic that catalyzes a desymmetrization reaction over a very long distance.