Crystal Structure of Inhibitor-Bound GII.4 Sydney 2012 Norovirus 3C-Like Protease.

Norovirus is the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis worldwide, and there are no approved vaccines or therapeutic treatments for chronic or severe norovirus infections. The structural characterisation of the norovirus protease and drug development has predominantly focused upon GI.1 noroviruses, despite most global outbreaks being caused by GII.4 noroviruses. Here, we determined the crystal structures of the GII.4 Sydney 2012 ligand-free norovirus protease at 2.79 Å and at 1.83 Å with a covalently bound high-affinity (IC50 = 0.37 µM) protease inhibitor (NV-004). We show that the active sites of the ligand-free protease structure are present in both open and closed conformations, as determined by their Arg112 side chain orientation. A comparative analysis of the ligand-free and ligand-bound protease structures reveals significant structural differences in the active site cleft and substrate-binding pockets when an inhibitor is covalently bound. We also report a second molecule of NV-004 non-covalently bound within the S4 substrate binding pocket via hydrophobic contacts and a water-mediated hydrogen bond. These new insights can guide structure-aided drug design against the GII.4 genogroup of noroviruses.

P1 Glutamine isosteres in the design of inhibitors of 3C/3CL protease of human viruses of the Pisoniviricetes class.

Viral infections are one of the leading causes of acute morbidity in humans and much endeavour has been made by the synthetic community for the development of drugs to treat associated diseases. Peptide-based enzyme inhibitors, usually short sequences of three or four residues, are one of the classes of compounds currently under development for enhancement of their activity and pharmaceutical properties. This review reports the advances made in the design of inhibitors targeting the family of highly conserved viral proteases 3C/3CLpro, which play a key role in viral replication and present minimal homology with mammalian proteases. Particular focus is put on the reported development of P1 glutamine isosteres to generate potent inhibitors mimicking the natural substrate sequence at the site of recognition.'

Expedient synthesis of imino-C-nucleoside fleximers featuring a one-pot procedure to prepare aryl triazoles.

Nucleoside analogues such as the antiviral agents galidesivir and ribavirin are of synthetic interest. This work reports a "one-pot" preparation of similar fleximers using a bifunctional copper catalyst that generates the aryl azide in situ, which is captured by a terminal alkyne to effect triazole formation.

Synthetic fermentation of ß-peptide macrocycles by thiadiazole-forming ring-closing reactions.

Macrocyclic ß-peptides were efficiently prepared using a thiadiazole-forming cyclization reaction between an α-ketoacid and a thiohydrazide. The linear ß-peptide precursors were assembled from isoxazolidine monomers by α-ketoacid-hydroxylamine (KAHA) ligations with a bifunctional initiator - a process we have termed 'synthetic fermentation' due to the analogy of producing natural product-like molecules from simpler building blocks. The linear synthetic fermentation products underwent Boc-deprotection/thiadiazole-forming macrocyclization under aqueous, acidic conditions to provide the cyclic products in a one-pot process. This reaction sequence proceeds from easily accessed initiator and monomer building blocks without the need for additional catalysts or reagents, enabling facile production of macrocyclic ß-peptides, a relatively underexplored structural class.

Stereochemical Characterization of Polyketide Stereotriads Synthesized via Hydrogen-Mediated Asymmetric syn-Crotylation.

The stereoselective access to stereotriads as important polyketide building blocks is reported on the basis of the Krische-type hydrogen-mediated syn-crotylation. The products were obtained with an extremely high diastereoselectivity (dr >99:1), and the newly formed syn stereocenters were controlled solely by the chiral catalyst. The stereochemistry was assigned by crystallography and HPLC for both product manifolds. This extension of the burgeoning transfer hydrogen methodology gives divergent asymmetric access to anti,syn and syn,syn polyketide stereotriads from the same α-chiral starting material and avoids potentially epimerizable aldehyde intermediates.

Synthesis of the spirocyclic framework of sesterterpenoid natural products.

A convergent synthetic route to the sesterterpenoid framework of the bioactive phorbaketal and alotaketal natural product families has been established. The synthetic approach hinges on a Hosomi-Sakurai coupling of complex acetal and allylsilane coupling partners, followed by DDQ-promoted oxidative cyclization of highly unsaturated advanced intermediates. This robust synthetic approach enables further investigations into the members of these natural product families and readily provides access to analogues for biological testing.

Preparation of cis-γ-hydroxycarvone derivatives for synthesis of sesterterpenoid natural products: total synthesis of phorbin A.

A robust synthetic approach to cis-γ-hydroxycarvone derivatives has been developed, enabling efficient access to synthetic building blocks for the growing family of bioactive sesterterpenoid natural products. Using this approach, an allyl bromide carvone derivative was used as the key building block for the total synthesis of the natural product phorbin A. This synthetic sequence also demonstrates the utility of benozyl enol ethers as an effective means of masking a ß-ketophosphonate and their subsequent application in a one-pot benzoyl transfer-intramolecular Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction.

Enantioselective access to benzannulated spiroketals using a chiral sulfoxide auxiliary.

This article describes our efforts to develop an asymmetric synthesis of bisbenzannulated spiroketals using a chiral sulfoxide auxiliary. Our primary focus was on the synthesis of the 3H-spiro[benzofuran-2,2'-chroman] ring system, the spirocyclic core of the rubromycin family. Our strategy employed the use of lithium-halogen exchange on a racemic bromospiroketal in order to attach a chiral sulfoxide, thus producing two diastereomers. The diastereomers were separable, enabling isolation of each spiroketal enantiomer. Subsequent cleavage of the sulfoxide group from each diastereomer yielded the respective parent spiroketal in high enantiopurity.