Site-Specific Antibody Prodrugs via S-Arylation: a Bioconjugation Approach Toward Masked Tyrosine Analogues.

The utility of antibody therapeutics is hampered by potential cross-reactivity with healthy tissue. Over the past decade, significant advances have been made in the design of activatable antibodies, which increase, or create altogether, the therapeutic window of a parent antibody. Of these, antibody prodrugs (pro-antibodies) are masked antibodies that have advanced the most for therapeutic use. They are designed to reveal the active, parent antibody only when encountering proteases upregulated in the microenvironment of the targeted disease tissue, thereby minimizing off-target activity. However, current pro-antibody designs are relegated to fusion proteins that append masking groups restricted to the use of only canonical amino acids, offering excellent control of the site of introduction, but with no authority over where the masking group is installed other than the N-terminus of the antibody. Here, we present a palladium-based bioconjugation approach for the site-specific introduction of a masked tyrosine mimic in the complementary determining region of the FDA approved antibody therapeutic ipilimumab used as a model system. The approach enables the introduction of a protease cleavable group tethered to noncanonical polymers (polyethylene glycol (PEG)) resulting in 47-fold weaker binding to cells expressing CTLA-4, the target antigen of ipilimumab. Upon exposure to tumor-associated proteases, the masking group is cleaved, unveiling a tyrosine-mimic (dubbed hydroxyphenyl cysteine (HPC)) that restores (>90% restoration) binding affinity to its target antigen.

Evidence for Simultaneous Dearomatization of Two Aromatic Rings under Mild Conditions in Cu(I)-Catalyzed Direct Asymmetric Dearomatization of Pyridine.

Bis(phosphine) copper hydride complexes are uniquely able to catalyze direct dearomatization of unactivated pyridines with carbon nucleophiles, but the mechanistic basis for this result has been unclear. Here we show that, contrary to our initial hypotheses, the catalytic mechanism is monometallic and proceeds via dearomative rearrangement of the phenethylcopper nucleophile to a Cpara-metalated form prior to reaction at heterocycle C4. Our studies support an unexpected heterocycle-promoted pathway for this net 1,5-Cu-migration beginning with a doubly dearomative imidoyl-Cu-ene reaction. Kinetics, substituent effects, computational modeling, and spectroscopic studies support the involvement of this unusual process. In this pathway, the CuL2 fragment subsequently mediates a stepwise Cope rearrangement of the doubly dearomatized intermediate to the give the C4-functionalized 1,4-dihydropyridine, lowering a second barrier that would otherwise prohibit efficient asymmetric catalysis.

Asymmetric Cu-Catalyzed 1,4-Dearomatization of Pyridines and Pyridazines without Preactivation of the Heterocycle or Nucleophile.

We show that a chiral copper hydride (CuH) complex catalyzes C-C bond-forming dearomatization of pyridines and pyridazines at room temperature. The catalytic reaction operates directly on free heterocycles and generates the nucleophiles in situ, eliminating the need for stoichiometric preactivation of either reaction partner; further, it is one of very few methods available for the enantioselective 1,4-dearomatization of heteroarenes. Combining the dearomatization with facile derivatization steps enables one-pot syntheses of enantioenriched pyridines and piperidines.

Asymmetric Copper Hydride-Catalyzed Markovnikov Hydrosilylation of Vinylarenes and Vinyl Heterocycles.

We report a highly enantioselective CuH-catalyzed Markovnikov hydrosilylation of vinylarenes and vinyl heterocycles. This method has a broad scope and enables both the synthesis of isolable silanes and the conversion of crude products to chiral alcohols. Density functional theory calculations support a mechanism proceeding by hydrocupration followed by σ-bond metathesis with a hydrosilane.

Convenient route to secondary sulfinates: application to the stereospecific synthesis of α-C-chiral sulfonamides.

A convenient synthesis of α-chiral sulfinates from readily available precursors has been accomplished via the corresponding heterocyclic thioethers and sulfones. Treatment of the sulfinates with hydroxylamine sulfonate in aqueous solution provides α-C-chiral primary sulfonamides in good yield (14 examples) with retention of stereochemical purity.

Discovery of AMG 925, a FLT3 and CDK4 dual kinase inhibitor with preferential affinity for the activated state of FLT3.

We describe the structural optimization of a lead compound 1 that exhibits dual inhibitory activities against FLT3 and CDK4. A series of pyrido[4',3':4,5]pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives was synthesized, and SAR analysis, using cell-based assays, led to the discovery of 28 (AMG 925), a potent and orally bioavailable dual inhibitor of CDK4 and FLT3, including many FLT3 mutants reported to date. Compound 28 inhibits the proliferation of a panel of human tumor cell lines including Colo205 (Rb(+)) and U937 (FLT3(WT)) and induced cell death in MOLM13 (FLT3(ITD)) and even in MOLM13 (FLT3(ITD, D835Y)), which exhibits resistance to a number of FLT3 inhibitors currently under clinical development. At well-tolerated doses, compound 28 leads to significant growth inhibition of MOLM13 xenografts in nude mice, and the activity correlates with inhibition of STAT5 and Rb phosphorylation.

Synthesis of a Benzodiazepine-derived Rhodium NHC Complex by C-H Bond Activation.

The synthesis and characterization of a Rh(I)-NHC complex generated by C-H activation of 1,4-benzodiazepine heterocycle are reported. This complex constitutes a rare example of a carbene tautomer of a 1,4-benzodiazepine aldimine stabilized by transition metal coordination and demonstrates the ability of the catalytically relevant RhCl(PCy(3))(2) fragment to induce NHC-forming tautomerization of heterocycles possessing a single carbene-stabilizing heteroatom. Implications for the synthesis of benzodiazepines and related pharmacophores via C-H functionalization are discussed.