A platform for the discovery of new macrolide antibiotics.

The chemical modification of structurally complex fermentation products, a process known as semisynthesis, has been an important tool in the discovery and manufacture of antibiotics for the treatment of various infectious diseases. However, many of the therapeutics obtained in this way are no longer effective, because bacterial resistance to these compounds has developed. Here we present a practical, fully synthetic route to macrolide antibiotics by the convergent assembly of simple chemical building blocks, enabling the synthesis of diverse structures not accessible by traditional semisynthetic approaches. More than 300 new macrolide antibiotic candidates, as well as the clinical candidate solithromycin, have been synthesized using our convergent approach. Evaluation of these compounds against a panel of pathogenic bacteria revealed that the majority of these structures had antibiotic activity, some efficacious against strains resistant to macrolides in current use. The chemistry we describe here provides a platform for the discovery of new macrolide antibiotics and may also serve as the basis for their manufacture.

New entries in Lewis acid-Lewis base bifunctional asymmetric catalyst: catalytic enantioselective Reissert reaction of pyridine derivatives.

The first catalytic enantioselective Reissert reaction of pyridine derivatives that affords products with excellent regio- and enantioselectivity is described. The key for success is the development of new Lewis acid-Lewis base bifunctional asymmetric catalysts containing an aluminum as a Lewis acid and sulfoxides or phosphine sulfides as a Lewis base. These reactions are useful for the synthesis of a variety of chiral piperidine subunits, and catalytic enantioselective formal synthesis of CP-293,019, a selective D4 receptor antagonist, was achieved. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicated that both sulfoxides and phosphine sulfides can activate TMSCN as a Lewis base. In addition, the sulfoxides with appropriate stereochemistry might stabilize a highly enantioselective bimetallic complex (a presumed active catalyst) through internal coordination to aluminum.

Total Synthesis of (-)-Verrucarol(1).

We have achieved the total synthesis of (-)-verrucarol, a trichothecene sesquiterpenoid obtained as a hydrolysis product of the naturally occurring verrucarin A. Our total synthesis began with the previously reported enantiomerically pure bicyclic alpha-methylated gamma-lactone, which was prepared from D-glucose. The key steps for the total synthesis were (1) aldol-like carbon-carbon bond formation applied to the starting lactone using a four-carbon aldehyde as an electrophile for introduction of the quaternary stereogenic carbon sharing the B and C-rings of the trichothecene skeleton, (2) Dieckmann cyclization of the derived epsilon-ester lactone for construction of the C-ring equivalent, (3) Barton's decarboxylative oxygenation for conversion of a carboxylic acid functionality in the Dieckmann cyclization product into a hydroxyl group, (4) skeletal enlargement strategy for the crucial trichothecene skeleton construction, and (5) the final stereoselective formation of the exo-epoxy ring at the methylene carbon in the bridge constituting the B and C-rings.