Synthesis and evaluation of trypanocidal activity of derivatives of naturally occurring 2,5-diphenyloxazoles.

African trypanosomiasis is a zoonotic protozoan disease affecting the nervous system. Various natural products reportedly exhibit trypanocidal activity. Naturally occurring 2,5-diphenyloxazoles present in Oxytropis lanata, and their derivatives, were synthesized. The trypanocidal activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated against Trypanosoma brucei brucei, T. b. gambiense, T. b. rhodesiense, T. congolense, and T. evansi. Natural product 1 exhibited trypanocidal activity against all the species/subspecies of trypanosomes, exhibiting half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 1.1-13.5 µM. Modification of the oxazole core improved the trypanocidal activity. The 1,3,4-oxadiazole (7) and 2,4-diphenyloxazole (9) analogs exhibited potency superior to that of 1. However, these compounds exhibited cytotoxicity in Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells. The O-methylated analog of 1 (12) was non-cytotoxic and exhibited selective trypanocidal activity against T. congolense (IC50 = 0.78 µM). Structure-activity relationship studies of the 2,5-diphenyloxazole analogs revealed aspects of the molecular structure critical for maintaining selective trypanocidal activity against T. congolense.

Chemoselective oxidative generation of ortho-quinone methides and tandem transformations.

ortho-Quinone methides are useful transient synthetic intermediates in organic synthesis. These species are most often generated in situ by the acid- or base-mediated transformation of phenols that have been pre-functionalized at a benzylic position, or by biomimetic oxidation of the corresponding ortho-alkylphenols with metal oxidants or transition-metal complexes. Here we describe a method for the transition-metal-free oxidative generation of o-QMs from ortho-alkylarenols, using hypoiodite catalysis under nearly neutral conditions, which can then be applied in one-pot tandem reactions. This method for the chemoselective oxidative generation of ortho-quinone methides may prove superior to previous methods with respect to environmental issues and scope, and can be applied to various tandem reactions such as inter- or intramolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition, oxa-6π-electrocyclization, conjugate addition and spiroepoxidation.