Turning unreactive copper acetylides into remarkably powerful and mild alkyne transfer reagents by oxidative umpolung.

This is not breaking news: copper acetylides, readily available polymeric rock-stable solids, have been known for more than a century to be unreactive species and piteous nucleophiles. This lack of reactivity actually makes them ideal alkyne transfer reagents that can be easily activated under mild oxidizing conditions. When treated with molecular oxygen in the presence of simple chelating nitrogen ligands such as TMEDA, phenanthroline or imidazole derivatives, they are smoothly oxidized to highly electrophilic species that formally behave like acetylenic carbocations and can therefore be used for the mild and practical alkynylation of a wide range of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon nucleophiles.

Asymmetric thio-claisen rearrangement induced by an enantiopure alkylsulfinyl group. Unusual preference for a boat transition state in the acyclic series.

Ketene aminothioacetals 2a-c and 5a-b bearing an enantiopure vinylic alkylsulfinyl substituent were readily prepared from (R)-2-cyclohexylsulfinyl-N,N-dimethylethanethioamide 1 with full control of the geometry of their double bonds. They underwent a Claisen rearrangement upon heating at THF reflux to afford alpha-sulfinyl gamma-unsaturated thioamides 3a-c and 6a-b. With all substrates the asymmetric induction of the sulfinyl group was excellent. The determination of the absolute configurations of thioamides 3a-c and 6a-b was achieved either by X-ray crystallographic analysis or by chemical correlation. The stereochemical course of this [3,3] sigmatropic transposition was explained by an electronic model. Interestingly the Claisen rearrangement of the (ZE)-cinnamyl substrates 5b was shown to proceed through a boat transition state rather than a chair transition state; such a preference is quite unusual for acyclic systems.

Suicide inactivation of cytochrome P450 by midchain and terminal acetylenes. A mechanistic study of inactivation of a plant lauric acid omega-hydroxylase.

Incubation of Vicia sativa microsomes, containing cytochrome P450-dependent lauric acid omega-hydroxylase (omega-LAH), with [1-(14)C]11-dodecynoic acid (11-DDYA) generates a major metabolite characterized as 1,12-dodecandioic acid. In addition to time- and concentration-dependent inactivation of lauric acid and 11-DDYA oxidation, irreversible binding of 11-DDYA (200 pmol of 11-DDYA bound/mg of microsomal protein) at a saturating concentration of 11-DDYA was observed. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed that 30% of the label was associated with several protein bands of about 53 kDa. The presence of beta-mercaptoethanol in the incubate reduces 1,12-dodecandioic acid formation and leads to a polar metabolite resulting from the interaction of oxidized 11-DDYA with the nucleophile. Although the alkylation of proteins was reduced, the lauric acid omega-hydroxylase activity was not restored, suggesting an active site-directed inactivation mechanism. Similar results were obtained when reconstituted mixtures of cytochrome P450 from family CYP4A from rabbit liver were incubated with 11-DDYA. In contrast, both 11- and 10-DDYA resulted in covalent labeling of the cytochrome P450 2B4 protein and irreversible inhibition of activity. These results demonstrate that acetylenic analogues of substrate are efficient mechanism-based inhibitors and that a correlation between the position of the acetylenic bond in the inhibitor and the regiochemistry of cytochromes P450 oxygenation is essential for enzyme inactivation.

New cytochrome P450-dependent reactions from wheat: terminal and sub-terminal hydroxylation of oleic acid by microsomes from naphthalic acid anhydride and phenobarbital induced wheat seedlings.

Incubation of the microsomal fraction from etiolated wheat shoots (Triticum aestivum L. cv Etoile de Choisy) with [1-14C]oleic acid led to the formation of three polar metabolites which were identified as 18-, 17- and 16-hydroxyoleic acids by gas chromatography/mass spectra analysis. They were generated in a molar ratio of 1.4/4.6/4, respectively. Terminal and sub-terminal hydroxylation of oleic acid and the cytochrome P450 content were strongly enhanced in microsomes from wheat shoots treated with naphthalic acid anhydride and phenobarbital. The involvement of cytochrome P450 is demonstrated by the dependence of hydroxylation upon O2 and NADPH, and by their light-reversible inhibition by carbon monoxide. In addition, the hydroxylation of oleic acid, but not of lauric acid and cinnamic acid, was inhibited when microsomes where incubated with 9-octadecen-16-ynoic acid, a substrate analogue displaying an acetylenic function at the carbon position of major enzyme attack. Our results suggest that at least two different P450 enzymes are involved in the oxidation of oleic and lauric acids in wheat.

[omega]-Hydroxylation of Oleic Acid in Vicia sativa Microsomes (Inhibition by Substrate Analogs and Inactivation by Terminal Acetylenes).

Oleic acid (18:1) is hydroxylated exclusively on the terminal methyl by a microsomal cytochrome P-450-dependent system ([omega]-OAH) from clofibrate-induced Vicia sativa L. (var minor) seedlings (F. Pinot, J.-P. Salaun, H. Bosch, A. Lesot, C. Mioskowski, F. Durst [1992] Biochem Biophys Res Commun 184: 183-193). This reaction was inactivated by two terminal acetylenes: (Z)-9-octadecen-17-ynoic acid (17-ODCYA) and the corresponding epoxide, (Z)-9,10-epoxyoctadecan-17-ynoic acid (17-EODCYA). Inactivation was mechanism-based, with an apparent binding constant of 21 and 32 [mu]M and half-lives of 16 and 19 min for 17-ODCYA and 17-EODCYA, respectively. We have investigated the participation of one or more [omega]-hydroxylase isoforms in the oxidation of fatty acids in this plant system. Lauric acid (12:0) is [omega]-hydroxylated by the cytochrome P-450 [omega]-hydroxylase [omega]-LAH (J.-P. Salaun, A. Simon, F. Durst [1986] Lipids 21: 776-779). Half-lives of [omega]-OAH and [omega]-LAH in the presence of 40 [mu]M 17-ODCYA were 23 and 41 min, respectively. Inhibition of oleic acid [omega]-hydroxylation was competitive with linoleic acid (18:2), but noncompetitive with lauric acid (12:0). In contrast, oleic acid did not inhibit [omega]-hydroxylation of lauric acid. Furthermore, 1-pentadecyltriazole inhibited [omega]-hydroxylation of oleic acid but not of lauric acid. These results suggest that distinct monooxygenases catalyze [omega]-hydroxylation of medium- and long-chain fatty acids in V. sativa microsomes.