Chemoenzymatic Route to Oxyfunctionalized Cembranoids Facilitated by Substrate and Protein Engineering.

Cembranoids constitute a large family of 14-membered oxygenated macrocyclic diterpenoids with potential as therapeutic agents. Selective late-stage oxidations of cembranoid scaffolds remain a challenge for chemical catalysts but can be accomplished by enzymes. Here, a new chemoenzymatic route to oxyfunctionalized 14-membered macrocycles including cembranoids is described. This route combines a metal-catalyzed ring-closing metathesis with a subsequent P450 BM3-catalyzed hydroxylation and delivers cembranoid-like analogues. Systematic substrate probing with a set of synthetic 14-membered macrocycles revealed that the regioselectivity of a P450 BM3-based biocatalyst increased with increasing ring rigidity as well as size and polarity of the exocyclic substituents. Enzyme regioselectivity could further be improved by first-sphere active site mutagenesis. The V78A/F87A variant catalyzed hydroxylation of cembranoid-ol (9S/R)-3 d with 90 % regioselectivity for C5 position. Extensive NMR analysis of Mosher esters and single crystal X-ray structure determination revealed a remarkable diastereoselectivity of this P450 BM3 mutant depending on substrate stereochemistry, which led exclusively to the syn-cembranoid-diols (5S,9S)-4 and (5R,9R)-4.

A Two-Component Alkyne Metathesis Catalyst System with an Improved Substrate Scope and Functional Group Tolerance: Development and Applications to Natural Product Synthesis.

Although molybdenum alkylidyne complexes such as 1 endowed with triarylsilanolate ligands are excellent catalysts for alkyne metathesis, they can encounter limitations when (multiple) protic sites are present in a given substrate and/or when forcing conditions are necessary. In such cases, a catalyst formed in situ upon mixing of the trisamidomolybenum alkylidyne complex 3 and the readily available trisilanol derivatives 8 or 11 shows significantly better performance. This two-component system worked well for a series of model compounds comprising primary, secondary or phenolic -OH groups, as well as for a set of challenging (bis)propargylic substrates. Its remarkable efficiency is also evident from applications to the total syntheses of manshurolide, a highly strained sesquiterpene lactone with kinase inhibitory activity, and the structurally demanding immunosuppressive cyclodiyne ivorenolide A; in either case, the standard catalyst 1 largely failed to effect the critical macrocyclization, whereas the two-component system was fully operative. A study directed toward the quinolizidine alkaloid lythrancepine I features yet another instructive example, in that a triyne substrate was metathesized with the help of 3/11 such that two of the triple bonds participated in ring closure, while the third one passed uncompromised. As a spin-off of this project, a much improved ruthenium catalyst for the redox isomerization of propargyl alcohols to the corresponding enones was developed.

Orthogonal ring-closing alkyne and olefin metathesis for the synthesis of small GTPase-targeting bicyclic peptides.

Bicyclic peptides are promising scaffolds for the development of inhibitors of biological targets that proved intractable by typical small molecules. So far, access to bioactive bicyclic peptide architectures is limited due to a lack of appropriate orthogonal ring-closing reactions. Here, we report chemically orthogonal ring-closing olefin (RCM) and alkyne metathesis (RCAM), which enable an efficient chemo- and regioselective synthesis of complex bicyclic peptide scaffolds with variable macrocycle geometries. We also demonstrate that the formed alkyne macrocycle can be functionalized subsequently. The orthogonal RCM/RCAM system was successfully used to evolve a monocyclic peptide inhibitor of the small GTPase Rab8 into a bicyclic ligand. This modified peptide shows the highest affinity for an activated Rab GTPase that has been reported so far. The RCM/RCAM-based formation of bicyclic peptides provides novel opportunities for the design of bioactive scaffolds suitable for the modulation of challenging protein targets.