Use of a multicomponent reaction for chemoselective derivatization of multiple classes of metabolites.

We demonstrate that the Ugi reaction enables chemoselective derivatization of biological amines, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, or ketones with a chromophore under one set of reaction conditions, even in the presence of water. Derivatization of neurotransmitters, hormones, disease biomarkers and other metabolites bodes well for systems biology and diagnostic medicine.

Synthesis and evaluation of inhibitors of bacterial drug efflux pumps of the major facilitator superfamily.

Inhibitors of drug efflux pumps have great potential as pharmacological agents that restore the drug susceptibility of multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens. Most attention has been focused on the discovery of small molecules that inhibit the resistance nodulation division (RND) family drug efflux pumps in Gram-negative bacteria. The prototypical inhibitor of RND-family efflux pumps in Gram-negative bacteria is MC-207,110 (Phe-Arg-ß-naphthylamide), a C-capped dipeptide. Here, we report that C-capped dipeptides inhibit two chloramphenicol-specific efflux pumps in Streptomyces coelicolor, a Gram-positive bacterium that is a relative of the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Diversity-oriented synthesis of a library of structurally related C-capped dipeptides via an Ugi four component reaction and screening of the resulting compounds resulted in the discovery of a compound that is threefold more potent as a suppressor of chloramphenicol resistance in S. coelicolor than MC-207,110. Since chloramphenicol resistance in S. coelicolor is mediated by major facilitator superfamily drug efflux pumps, our findings provide the first evidence that C-capped dipeptides can inhibit drug efflux pumps outside of the RND superfamily.

Brønsted acidity of substrates influences the outcome of passerini three-component reactions.

Passerini three-component reactions of aldehydes, isocyanides, and strong carboxylic acids (i.e., pK(a) < 2) yield alpha-acyloxycarboxamides and/or alpha-acylaminocarboxamides, the characteristic products of Ugi four-component reactions. We propose that alpha-acylaminocarboxamide formation with these substrates is a consequence of in situ Brønsted acid-catalyzed reaction of the isocyanide and aldehyde to yield an imine that participates in an Ugi-type reaction. The apparent transfer of the isocyanide alpha-carbon to protic solvents as a formyl group during imine formation is indicative of new isocyanide reactivity.

Catalysis of Ugi four component coupling reactions by rare earth metal triflates.

Substoichiometric quantities of scandium and ytterbium triflate increase the yield of Ugi four component coupling reactions of aromatic aldehydes 2- to 7-fold. These rare earth metal triflates enhance the reaction yields primarily via activation of the imine intermediate of this multicomponent reaction.