Data Science-Enabled Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Aryl-Carbonylation of Sulfonimidamides.

New methods for the general asymmetric synthesis of sulfonimidamides are of great interest due to their applications in medicinal chemistry, agrochemical discovery, and academic research. We report a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling method for the enantioselective aryl-carbonylation of sulfonimidamides. Using data science techniques, a virtual library of calculated bisphosphine ligand descriptors was used to guide reaction optimization by effectively sampling the catalyst chemical space. The optimized conditions identified using this approach provided the desired product in excellent yield and enantioselectivity. As the next step, a data science-driven strategy was also used to explore a diverse set of aryl and heteroaryl iodides, providing key information about the scope and limitations of the method. Furthermore, we tested a range of racemic sulfonimidamides for compatibility of this coupling partner. The developed method offers a general and efficient strategy for accessing enantioenriched sulfonimidamides, which should facilitate their application in industrial and academic settings.

Stereoselective Synthesis of the IDO Inhibitor Navoximod.

A highly efficient asymmetric synthesis of the IDO inhibitor navoximod, featuring the stereoselective installation of two relative and two absolute stereocenters from an advanced racemic intermediate, is described. The stereocenters were set via a crystallization-induced dynamic resolution along with two selective ketone reductions: one via a biocatalytic ketoreductase transformation and one via substrate-controlled hydride delivery from LiAlH(Ot-Bu)3. Following this strategy, navoximod was synthesized in 10 steps from 2-fluorobenzaldehyde and isolated in 23% overall yield with 99.7% ee and high purity.

Synthesis and evaluation of 5,6-disubstituted thiopyrimidine aryl aminothiazoles as inhibitors of the calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A/Ano1.

Transmembrane protein 16A (TMEM16A), also called Ano1, is a Ca(2+) activated Cl(-) channel expressed widely in mammalian epithelia, as well as in vascular smooth muscle and some tumors and electrically excitable cells. TMEM16A inhibitors have potential utility for treatment of disorders of epithelial fluid and mucus secretion, hypertension, some cancers and other diseases. 4-Aryl-2-amino thiazole T16Ainh-01 was previously identified by high-throughput screening. Here, a library of 47 compounds were prepared that explored the 5,6-disubstituted pyrimidine scaffold found in T16Ainh-01. TMEM16A inhibition activity was measured using fluorescence plate reader and short-circuit current assays. We found that very little structural variation of T16Ainh-01 was tolerated, with most compounds showing no activity at 10 µM. The most potent compound in the series, 9bo, which substitutes 4-methoxyphenyl in T16Ainh-01 with 2-thiophene, had IC50 ∼1 µM for inhibition of TMEM16A chloride conductance.