A chemoenzymatic strategy for site-selective functionalization of native peptides and proteins.

The emergence of new therapeutic modalities requires complementary tools for their efficient syntheses. Availability of methodologies for site-selective modification of biomolecules remains a long-standing challenge, given the inherent complexity and the presence of repeating residues that bear functional groups with similar reactivity profiles. We describe a bioconjugation strategy for modification of native peptides relying on high site selectivity conveyed by enzymes. We engineered penicillin G acylases to distinguish among free amino moieties of insulin (two at amino termini and an internal lysine) and manipulate cleavable phenylacetamide groups in a programmable manner to form protected insulin derivatives. This enables selective and specific chemical ligation to synthesize homogeneous bioconjugates, improving yield and purity compared to the existing methods, and generally opens avenues in the functionalization of native proteins to access biological probes or drugs.

Development of a stereoselective and scalable process for the preparation of a methylcyclobutanol-pyridyl ether.

The evolution of a scalable process for the preparation of methylcyclobutanol-pyridyl ether 1 is described. Key aspects of this development including careful control of the stereochemistry, elimination of chromatography, and application to kilogram-scale synthesis are addressed.

Selective Formation of Functionalized α-Quaternary Malononitriles toward 5,5-Disubstituted Pyrrolopyrimidinones.

A modular, selective approach to complex α-tertiary substituted malononitriles is reported. The method takes advantage of ß-ester-substituted α,α-dinitrile alkenes as highly reactive, chemoselective electrophiles for 1,4-additions with organometallic nucleophiles to produce functionally and sterically dense all-carbon quaternary centers. In the presence of a chiral ester auxiliary bearing an aromatic ring, the 1,4-addition occurs with good to excellent selectivity due to favorable cation-π interactions. The highly functionalized malononitriles represent versatile building blocks and can be applied toward efficient, highly selective syntheses of 5,5-disubstituted pyrrolopyrimidinones.

The protecting-group free selective 3'-functionalization of nucleosides.

The direct and chemoselective 3'-phosphoramidation, phosphorylation and acylation of nucleosides are described. Upon the discovery of a novel 3'-phosphorylamidation of therapeutic nucleoside analogues with DBU, we explored the mechanism of this rare selectivity through a combination of NMR spectroscopy and computational studies. The NMR and computational findings allowed us to develop a predictive computational model that accurately assesses the potential for 3'-functionalization for a broad range of nucleosides and nucleoside mimetics. The synthetic utility of this model was exemplified by demonstration on a broad scope of nucleosides and electrophiles yielding targets that were previously only accessible via a protection/deprotection sequence or an enzymatic approach.

Synthesis of the γ-Secretase Modulator MK-8428.

The synthesis of the γ-secretase modulator MK-8428 (1) is described. The synthesis is highlighted by an enzyme-catalyzed reaction to access 3,4,5-trifluoro-(S)-phenylglycine, a 1-pot activation/displacement/deprotection sequence to introduce the aminooxy functionality and a dehydrative intramolecular cyclization under mild conditions to form the oxadiazine heterocycle of 1. In situ reaction monitoring was employed to understand the deleterious role of water during the formation of a methanesulfonate ester in the 1-pot activation/displacement/deprotection sequence.

Discovery of phenyl acetamides as potent and selective GPR119 agonists.

The paper describes the SAR/SPR studies that led to the discovery of phenoxy cyclopropyl phenyl acetamide derivatives as potent and selective GPR119 agonists. Based on a cis cyclopropane scaffold discovered previously, phenyl acetamides such as compound 17 were found to have excellent GPR119 potency and improved physicochemical properties. Pharmacokinetic data of compound 17 in rat, dog and rhesus will be described. Compound 17 was suitable for QD dosing based on its predicted human half-life, and its projected human dose was much lower than that of the recently reported structurally-related benzyloxy compound 2. Compound 17 was selected as a tool compound candidate for NHP (Non-Human Primate) efficacy studies.

Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Methyl-ß-cyclopropyldihydrocinnamates.

α- and ß-substitution of dihydrocinnamates has been shown to increase the biological activity of various drug candidates. Recently, we identified enantio- and diastereopure α-methyl-ß-cyclopropyldihydrocinnamates to be important pharmacophores in one of our drug discovery programs and endeavored to devise an asymmetric hydrogenation strategy to improve access to this valuable framework. We used high throughput experimentation to define stereoconvergent Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling conditions affording (Z)-α-methyl-ß-cyclopropylcinnamates and subsequent ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation conditions affording the desired products in excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities. These conditions were executed on multigram to kilogram scale to provide three key enantiopure α-methyl-ß-cyclopropyldihydrocinnamates with high selectivity.

Development of a palladium-catalyzed α-arylation of cyclopropyl nitriles.

1,1-Disubstituted aryl cyclopropyl nitriles are useful moieties in biologically active compounds and provide access to a range of cyclopropyl derivatives. Herein, we describe the development of a palladium-catalyzed α-arylation of cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, and cyclopentyl nitriles that affords these functional groups in one step from a variety of aryl bromides in good to excellent yields. Furthermore, we demonstrate the transformation of aryl cyclopropyl nitriles into aryl trifluoromethyl cyclopropanes.

Catalytic, asymmetric preparation of ketene dimers from acid chlorides.

[reaction: see text] The cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed dimerization of monosubstituted ketenes generated in situ from the reaction of acid chlorides and diisopropylethylamine yields ketene dimers in high yields and enantioselectivities. This reaction tolerates sterically demanding and functionally diverse substituents. Kinetic studies suggest that the rate-determining step for the reaction is the deprotonation of the acid chloride by the tertiary amine to form ketene and that the stereochemistry-forming step is addition of an ammonium enolate with ketene.