Synthesis of Stable Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Coated with Phosphonic Acid-Based Functional Polymers.

Functional polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), terminated with a single phosphonic acid, hereafter PEGik-Ph are often applied to coat metal oxide surfaces during post-synthesis steps but are not sufficient to stabilize sub-10 nm particles in protein-rich biofluids. The instability is attributed to the weak binding affinity of post-grafted phosphonic acid groups, resulting in a gradual detachment of the polymers from the surface. Here, we assess these polymers as coating agents using an alternative route, namely, the one-step wet-chemical synthesis, where PEGik-Ph is introduced with cerium precursors during the synthesis. Characterization of the coated cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) indicates a core-shell structure, where the cores are 3 nm cerium oxide and the shell consists of functionalized PEG polymers in a brush configuration. Results show that CNPs coated with PEG1k-Ph and PEG2k-Ph are of potential interest for applications as nanomedicines due to their high Ce(III) content and increased colloidal stability in cell culture media. We further demonstrate that the CNPs in the presence of hydrogen peroxide show an additional absorbance band in the UV-vis spectrum, which is attributed to Ce-O22- peroxo-complexes and could be used in the evaluation of their catalytic activity for scavenging reactive oxygen species.

Probing for Thiol-Mediated Uptake into Bacteria.

Cellular uptake mediated by cyclic oligochalcogenides (COCs) is emerging as a conceptually innovative method to penetrate mammalian cells. Their mode of action is based on dynamic covalent oligochalcogenide exchange with cellular thiols. To test thiol-mediated uptake in bacteria, five antibiotics have been equipped with up to three different COCs: One diselenolane and two dithiolanes. We found that the COCs do not activate antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria. In Gram-positive bacteria, the COCs inactivate antibiotics that act in the cytoplasm and reduce the activity of antibiotics that act on the cell surface. These results indicate that thiol-mediated uptake operates in neither of the membranes of bacteria. COCs are likely to exchange with thiols on the inner, maybe also on the outer membrane, but do not move on. Concerning mammalian cells, the absence of a COC-mediated uptake into bacteria observed in this study disfavors trivial mechanisms, such as passive diffusion, and supports the existence of more sophisticated, so far poorly understood uptake pathways.

Novel Hybrid Prins/Aza-Prins Oxocarbenium/N-Acyliminium Cascade: Expedient Access to Complex Indolizidines.

Heavy silyl enol ethers (mostly TIPS and TBS) combine with cyclic N-alkenyl N-acyliminium salts generated in situ from their N,O-acetal precursors, to furnish highly functionalized indolizidines through an unprecedented double Mukaiyama-Mannich-Prins cascade transformation. This novel cascade annulation process demonstrates a promising scope, and takes place mostly catalytically with interesting stereocontrol. Furthermore, an appealing facet of this chemistry is emphasized with a bicatalytic approach by which the Mannich-Prins cascade follows a Ru-catalyzed N-allylamide to N-(E)-propenyl isomerization of the aminal counterpart in a one-pot operation.

Isoxazolidine: A Privileged Scaffold for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry.

The isoxazolidine ring represents one of the privileged structures in medicinal chemistry, and there have been an increasing number of studies on isoxazolidine and isoxazolidine-containing compounds. Optimization of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (1,3-DC), original methods including electrophilic or palladium-mediated cyclization of unsaturated hydroxylamine, has been developed to obtain isoxazolidines. Novel reactions involving the isoxazolidine ring have been highlighted to accomplish total synthesis or to obtain bioactive compounds, one of the most significant examples being probably the thermic ring contraction applied to the total synthesis of (±)-Gelsemoxonine. The unique isoxazolidine scaffold also exhibits an impressive potential as a mimic of nucleosides, carbohydrates, PNA, amino acids, and steroid analogs. This review aims to be a comprehensive and general summary of the different isoxazolidine syntheses, their use as starting building blocks for the preparation of natural compounds, and their main biological activities.

MgI2 -chemoselective cleavage for removal of amino acid protecting groups: A fresh vision for peptide synthesis.

In the field of peptide synthesis, the key to a successful access to synthetic targets lies on a pertinent combination of protecting groups. Their choice is directed by their selective removal conditions. We present here the behavior of some of the most used protecting groups in peptide chemistry under experimental cleavage conditions, combining MgI2 with MW irradiation, using 2-Me-THF as a green solvent. In these experimental conditions, the benzyloxycarbonyl protecting group as well as the Merrifield resin can be re-considered in peptide chemistry.

Catalytic Alkynylation of Cyclic Acetals and Ketals Enabled by Synergistic Gold(I)/Trimethylsilyl Catalysis.

A completely regioselective and challenging gold(I)-catalyzed ring-opening of cyclic 1,3-dioxolanes and dioxanes by trimethylsilyl alkynes to set diol-derived propargyl trimethylsilyl bis-ethers is reported. This unprecedented and not trivial transformation does not operate with the catalytic methodologies recently reported for catalytic alkynylation of acyclic acetals/ketals, and is uniquely enabled by the application of a recently introduced synergistic gold(I)-silicon catalysis concept capable of producing simultaneously catalytic amounts of two key players, a silicon-based Lewis superacid and a nucleophilic gold acetylide.

MgI2 -mediated chemoselective cleavage of protecting groups: an alternative to conventional deprotection methodologies.

The scope of MgI2 as a valuable tool for quantitative and mild chemoselective cleavage of protecting groups is described here. This novel synthetic approach expands the use of protecting groups, widens the concept of orthogonality in synthetic processes, and offers a facile opportunity to release compounds from solid supports.

Turning Peptide Sequences into Ribbon Foldamers by a Straightforward Multicyclization Reaction.

The conformational control of molecular scaffolds allows the display of functional groups in defined spatial arrangement. This is of considerable interest for developing fundamental and applied systems in both the fields of biology and material sciences. Peptides afford a large diversity of functional groups, and peptide synthetic routes are very attractive and accessible. However, most short peptides do not possess well-defined secondary structures. Herein, we developed a simple strategy for converting peptide sequences into structured γ-lactam-containing oligomers while keeping the amino acids side chain diversity. We showed the propensity of these molecules to adopt ribbon-like secondary structures. The periodic distribution of the functional groups on both sides of the ribbon plane is encoded by the initial peptide sequence.

A General Approach to the Aza-Diketomorpholine Scaffold.

A stereoconservative three-step synthesis to access to 1,2,4-oxadiazine-3,6-dione is presented. This underexplored platform could be considered as a constrained oxy-azapeptide or an aza-diketomorpholine, the methodology being then successfully applied to produce enantiopure aza-analogs of diketomorpholine natural products. Importantly, the first crystal structures were obtained and compared to diketomorpholine and diketopiperazine structures. Finally, a straightforward procedure concerning the coupling of this heterocyclic scaffold with various amino acids to afford original pseudodipeptide analogs was described.