Flavin-containing monooxygenase S-oxygenation of a series of thioureas and thiones.

Mammalian flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO) is active towards many drugs with a heteroatom having the properties of a soft nucleophile. Thiocarbamides and thiones are S-oxygenated to the sulfenic acid which can either react with glutathione and initiate a redox-cycle or be oxygenated a second time to the unstable sulfinic acid. In this study, we utilized LC-MS/MS to demonstrate that the oxygenation by hFMO of the thioureas under test terminated at the sulfenic acid. With thiones, hFMO catalyzed the second reaction and the sulfinic acid rapidly lost sulfite to form the corresponding imidazole. Thioureas are often pulmonary toxicants in mammals and, as previously reported by our laboratory, are excellent substrates for hFMO2. This isoform is expressed at high levels in the lung of most mammals, including non-human primates. Genotyping to date indicates that individuals of African (up to 49%) or Hispanic (2-7%) ancestry have at least one allele for functional hFMO2 in lung, but not Caucasians nor Asians. In this study the major metabolite formed by hFMO2 with thioureas from Allergan, Inc. was the sulfenic acid that reacted with glutathione. The majority of thiones were poor substrates for hFMO3, the major form in adult human liver. However, hFMO1, the major isoform expressed in infant and neonatal liver and adult kidney and intestine, readily S-oxygenated thiones under test, with Kms ranging from 7 to 160 µM and turnover numbers of 30-40 min(-1). The product formed was identified by LC-MS/MS as the imidazole. The activities of the mouse and human FMO1 and FMO3 orthologs were in good agreement with the exception of some thiones for which activity was much greater with hFMO1 than mFMO1.

Synthesis of Substituted 2-Pyridones via the Pummerer Cyclization-Deprotonation-Cycloaddition Cascade of Imidosulfoxides.

1-Ethanesulfinylacetylpiperidin-2-one was prepared from delta-valerolactam in two steps by heating with ethylsulfenylacetyl chloride followed by sodium periodate oxidation. Slow addition of the imidosulfoxide to a refluxing mixture of toluene, acetic anhydride (10 equiv), and p-toluenesulfonic acid (1 mol %) resulted in the formation of an isomünchnone dipole which underwent bimolecular trapping in good yield. The stereochemical assignment of the cycloadduct was made on the basis of X-ray crystallography and is the consequence of an endo cycloaddition with respect to the dipole. The regiochemistry of the cycloaddition is consistent with a HOMO-dipole controlled process. Several related imidosulfoxides containing a tethered alkenyl group were prepared and subjected to the Pummerer reaction conditions. The resulting mesoionic dipoles formed by the cyclization-deprotonation sequence undergo ready dipolar cycloaddition across the pendant olefin to afford intramolecular cycloadducts in high yield. Exposure of these cycloadducts to acetic anhydride in the presence of a trace of p-toluenesulfonic acid results in ring opening to give 5-acetoxy-substituted 2-pyridones. The lone pair of electrons on the amide nitrogen assists in opening the oxy bridge to generate a transient N-acyliminium ion, which subsequently loses a proton. In certain cases, the amide electron pair with the oxy bridge is partially twisted from an antiperiplanar arrangement and a competive ring cleavage also occurs to give 5-thioethyl-substituted 2-pyridones.

Tandem Pummerer/Mannich cyclization cascade of alpha-sulfinylamides as a method to prepare aza-heterocycles.

A series of alpha-sulfinylenamides was conveniently prepared by the condensation of a primary amine with a ketone, followed by reaction of the resulting imine with ethylsulfenylacetyl chloride and subsequent oxidation with sodium periodate. When treated with p-TsOH, cyclization occurred to produce fused isoquinoline lactams by a mechanism that involves an initial Pummerer reaction followed by a subsequent cyclization of the resulting N-acyliminium ion onto the tethered aromatic ring. The isolation of a single diastereomer was rationalized in terms of a Nazarov-type 4pi-electrocyclic reaction followed by pi-cyclization onto the least hindered side of the N-acyliminium ion. Another method that was used to generate the alpha-acylthionium ion intermediate involved the reaction of bis(ethylsulfenylacetyl)acetamides with dimethyl(methyl)thiosulfonium tetrafluoroborate (DMTSF). Treatment of several bis-ethylsulfenylenamides with DMTSF delivered novel spiro-heterocycles as single diastereomers in good yield by a related process. The convergency and stereochemical control associated with this cascade sequence make it particularly suited for the assembly of natural product scaffolds. Some preliminary studies were directed toward both mesembrine and deethylibophyllidine. When the model Z-enamido sulfoxide 33 was heated with p-TsOH, a 80% yield of tosylate 34 was obtained as a single diastereomer. In this case, the carbocation intermediate derived from cyclization onto the terminal pi-bond was trapped with p-TsOH from the least hindered face, opposite the angular carbomethoxy and methyl groups. Related cyclization cascades were also found to occur with systems containing tethered indole rings.

A convenient synthesis of 7-halo-1-indanones and 8-halo-1-tetralones.

A regioselective oxidation of N-indan-4-yl-acetamide or N-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthalen-1-yl)acetamide with potassium permanganate followed by acidic hydrolysis gave 7-aminoindan-1-one or 8-aminotetral-1-one in good yield. The amino ketones were converted to the corresponding 7-haloindanone or the 8-halotetralone. Another method to prepare 7-haloindan-1-ones was completed by a cyclization of 3-chloro-1-(2-halophenyl)propan-1-one under Friedel-Crafts conditions to produce the product in gram quantity.