Synthesis of Chiral 1,2-Amino Alcohol-Containing Compounds Utilizing Ruthenium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Unprotected α-Ketoamines.

Herein, we disclose a facile synthetic strategy to access an important class of drug molecules that contain chiral 1,2-amino alcohol functionality utilizing highly effective ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of unprotected α-ketoamines. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a crisis of shortage of many important drugs, especially norepinephrine and epinephrine, for the treatment of anaphylaxis and hypotension because of the increased demand. Unfortunately, the existing technologies are not fulfilling the worldwide requirement due to the existing lengthy synthetic protocols that require additional protection and deprotection steps. We identified a facile synthetic protocol via a highly enantioselective one-step process for epinephrine and a two-step process for norepinephrine starting from unprotected α-ketoamines 1b and 1a, respectively. This newly developed enantioselective ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation was extended to the synthesis of many 1,2-amino alcohol-containing drug molecules such as phenylephrine, denopamine, norbudrine, and levisoprenaline, with enantioselectivities of >99% ee and high isolated yields.

Design and Discovery of Water-Soluble Benzooxaphosphole-Based Ligands for Hindered Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reactions with Low Catalyst Load.

We report a new class of highly effective, benzooxaphosphole-based, water-soluble ligands in the application of Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions for sterically hindered substrates in aqueous media. The catalytic activities of the coupling reactions were greatly enhanced by the addition of catalytic amounts of organic phase transfer reagents, such as tetraglyme and tetrabutylammonium bromide. The optimized general protocol can be conducted with a low catalyst load, thereby providing a practical solution for these reactions. The viability of this new Suzuki-Miyaura protocol was demonstrated with various substrates to generate important building blocks, including heterocycles, for the synthesis of biologically active compounds.

Amide Modifications in the Seed Region of the Guide Strand Improve the On-Target Specificity of Short Interfering RNA.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a well-established research tool and is also maturing as a novel therapeutic approach. For the latter, microRNA-like off-target activity of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) remains as one of the main problems limiting RNAi drug development. In this communication, we report that replacement of a single internucleoside phosphodiester in the seed region (nucleotides 2 to 7) of the guide strand with an amide linkage suppressed the undesired microRNA-like off-target activity by at least an order of magnitude. For the specific siRNA targeting the PIK3CB gene, an amide modification between the third and fourth nucleotides of the guide strand showed the strongest enhancement of specificity (completely eliminated off-target silencing) while maintaining high on-target activity. These results are important because off-target activity is one of the main remaining roadblocks for RNA based drug development.

Amide Internucleoside Linkages Are Well Tolerated in Protospacer Adjacent Motif-Distal Region of CRISPR RNAs.

The development of CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene editing technology is revolutionizing molecular biology, biotechnology, and medicine. However, as with other nucleic acid technologies, CRISPR would greatly benefit from chemical modifications that optimize delivery, activity, and specificity of gene editing. Amide modifications at certain positions of short interfering RNAs have been previously shown to improve their RNAi activity and specificity, which motivated the current study on replacement of selected internucleoside phosphates of CRISPR RNAs with amide linkages. Herein, we show that amide modifications did not interfere with CRISPR-Cas9 activity when placed in the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) distal region of CRISPR RNAs. In contrast, modification of the seed region led to a loss of DNA cleavage activity at most but not all positions. These results are encouraging for future studies on amides as backbone modifications in CRISPR RNAs.

A synthetic dolastatin 10 analogue suppresses microtubule dynamics, inhibits cell proliferation, and induces apoptotic cell death.

We have synthesized eight analogues (D1-D8) of dolastatin 10 containing several unique amino acid subunits. Of these agents, D5 was found to be most effective in inhibiting both HeLa cell proliferation and microtubule assembly in vitro. At low nanomolar concentrations, D5 inhibited the proliferation of several types of cancer cells in culture. D5 bound to tubulin with a dissociation constant of 29.4 ± 6 µM. D5 depolymerized microtubules in cultured cells and produced mulitpolar spindles. At its half-maximal inhibitory concentration (15 nM), D5 strongly suppressed the dynamics of individual microtubules in live MCF-7 cells. D5 increased the accumulation of checkpoint proteins BubR1 and Mad2 at the kinetochoric region and caused G2/M block in these cells. The blocked cells underwent apoptosis with the activation of Jun N-terminal kinase. The results suggested that D5 exerts its antiproliferative action by dampening microtubule dynamics.

Total synthesis of (29S,37S)-isomer of malevamide E, a potent ion-channel inhibitor.

The first total synthesis of (29S,37S)-malevamide E (1), a potent ion channel inhibitor, has been achieved in a convergent fashion involving Julia-Kocienski olefination, Urpi acetal aldol and Shiina macrolactonization reactions as the key steps. The strategy developed herein is amenable for the synthesis of the other possible isomers in search for the correct stereoisomer of the naturally occurring molecule.

Identification of novel S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase inhibitors through homology-model-based virtual screening, synthesis, and biological evaluation.

The present study describes a successful application of computational approaches to identify novel Leishmania donovani (Ld) AdoHcyase inhibitors utilizing the differences for Ld AdoHcyase NAD(+) binding between human and Ld parasite. The development and validation of the three-dimensional (3D) structures of Ld AdoHcyase using the L. major AdoHcyase as template has been carried out. At the same time, cloning of the Ld AdoHcyase gene from clinical strains, its overexpression and purification have been performed. Further, the model was used in combined docking and molecular dynamics studies to validate the binding site of NAD in Ld. The hierarchical structure based virtual screening followed by the synthesis of five active hits and enzyme inhibition assay has resulted in the identification of novel Ld AdoHcyase inhibitors. The most potent inhibitor, compound 5, may serve as a "lead" for developing more potent Ld AdoHcy hydrolase inhibitors as potential antileishmanial agents.

Studies directed toward the development of amide-linked RNA mimics: synthesis of the monomeric building blocks.

A general approach toward the synthesis of all four monomeric building blocks of the ribonucleoside amino acids 3'-amino-5'-carboxymethyl-3',5'-dideoxy nucleosides in their protected forms is described that will facilitate the development of amide-linked RNA mimics.