Chemoselective Esterification of Natural and Prebiotic 1,2-Amino Alcohol Amphiphiles in Water.

In cells, a vast number of membrane lipids are formed by the enzymatic O-acylation of polar head groups with acylating agents such as fatty acyl-CoAs. Although such ester-containing lipids appear to be a requirement for life on earth, it is unclear if similar types of lipids could have spontaneously formed in the absence of enzymatic machinery at the origin of life. There are few examples of enzyme-free esterification of amphiphiles in water and none that can occur in water at physiological pH using biochemically relevant acylating agents. Here we report the unexpected chemoselective O-acylation of 1,2-amino alcohol amphiphiles in water directed by Cu(II) and several other transition metal ions. In buffers containing Cu(II) ions, mixing biological 1,2-amino alcohol amphiphiles such as sphingosylphosphorylcholine with biochemically relevant acylating agents, namely, acyl adenylates and acyl-CoAs, leads to the formation of the O-acylation product with high selectivity. The resulting O-acylated sphingolipids self-assemble into vesicles with markedly different biophysical properties than those formed from their N-acyl counterparts. We also demonstrate that Cu(II) can direct the O-acylation of alternative 1,2-amino alcohols, including prebiotically relevant 1,2-amino alcohol amphiphiles, suggesting that simple mechanisms for aqueous esterification may have been prevalent on earth before the evolution of enzymes.

Chemoenzymatic Generation of Phospholipid Membranes Mediated by Type I Fatty Acid Synthase.

The de novo formation of lipid membranes from minimal reactive precursors is a major goal in synthetic cell research. In nature, the synthesis of membrane phospholipids is orchestrated by numerous enzymes, including fatty acid synthases and membrane-bound acyltransferases. However, these enzymatic pathways are difficult to fully reproduce in vitro. As such, the reconstitution of phospholipid membrane synthesis from simple metabolic building blocks remains a challenge. Here, we describe a chemoenzymatic strategy for lipid membrane generation that utilizes a soluble bacterial fatty acid synthase (cgFAS I) to synthesize palmitoyl-CoA in situ from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. The fatty acid derivative spontaneously reacts with a cysteine-modified lysophospholipid by native chemical ligation (NCL), affording a noncanonical amidophospholipid that self-assembles into micron-sized membrane-bound vesicles. To our knowledge, this is the first example of reconstituting phospholipid membrane formation directly from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA precursors. Our results demonstrate that combining the specificity and efficiency of a type I fatty acid synthase with a highly selective bioconjugation reaction provides a biomimetic route for the de novo formation of membrane-bound vesicles.

Parallel Strategies for the Synthesis of Annulated Pyrido[3,4-b]indoles via Rh(I)- and Pd(0)-Catalyzed Cyclotrimerization.

Two different pathways for the synthesis of annulated pyrido[3,4-b]indoles are reported using metal-catalyzed cyclotrimerization reactions. A stepwise process using Rh(I)-catalysis in the final step of the synthesis and a multicomponent, tandem catalytic approach using Pd(0)-catalysis both lead to complex nitrogen-containing heterocycles in good yields. Substituent effects are investigated for both pathways, demonstrating that the Pd(0)-catalyzed approach is more sensitive to electron- withdrawing groups.

Concise Synthesis of Annulated Pyrido[3,4-b]indoles via Rh(I)-Catalyzed Cyclization.

The synthesis of pyridines bearing multiple ring fusions poses a considerable challenge for organic chemists. To address this problem, we describe the synthesis of a small library of pyrido[3,4-b]indoles via an efficient, five-step sequence. The key transformation is a Rh(I)-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] cyclization that forms three rings in one reaction flask. Our method is high yielding, accommodates a variety of functional groups, and suffers no entropic costs as ring size increases.