Structural principles of insulin formulation and analog design: A century of innovation.

BACKGROUND: The discovery of insulin in 1921 and its near-immediate clinical use initiated a century of innovation. Advances extended across a broad front, from the stabilization of animal insulin formulations to the frontiers of synthetic peptide chemistry, and in turn, from the advent of recombinant DNA manufacturing to structure-based protein analog design. In each case, a creative interplay was observed between pharmaceutical applications and then-emerging principles of protein science; indeed, translational objectives contributed to a growing molecular understanding of protein structure, aggregation and misfolding. SCOPE OF REVIEW: Pioneering crystallographic analyses-beginning with Hodgkin's solving of the 2-Zn insulin hexamer-elucidated general features of protein self-assembly, including zinc coordination and the allosteric transmission of conformational change. Crystallization of insulin was exploited both as a step in manufacturing and as a means of obtaining protracted action. Forty years ago, the confluence of recombinant human insulin with techniques for site-directed mutagenesis initiated the present era of insulin analogs. Variant or modified insulins were developed that exhibit improved prandial or basal pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. Encouraged by clinical trials demonstrating the long-term importance of glycemic control, regimens based on such analogs sought to resemble daily patterns of endogenous ß-cell secretion more closely, ideally with reduced risk of hypoglycemia. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Next-generation insulin analog design seeks to explore new frontiers, including glucose-responsive insulins, organ-selective analogs and biased agonists tailored to address yet-unmet clinical needs. In the coming decade, we envision ever more powerful scientific synergies at the interface of structural biology, molecular physiology and therapeutics.

Editorial to the Special Issue "Total Synthesis of Natural Products: A Themed Issue Dedicated to Professor Dr. Dieter Schinzer for His 65th Birthday".

Natural products have intrigued humans throughout history [...].

Last Decade of Unconventional Methodologies for the Synthesis of Substituted Benzofurans.

This review describes the progress of the last decade on the synthesis of substituted benzofurans, which are useful scaffolds for the synthesis of numerous natural products and pharmaceuticals. In particular, new intramolecular and intermolecular C-C and/or C-O bond-forming processes, with transition-metal catalysis or metal-free are summarized. (1) Introduction. (2) Ring generation via intramolecular cyclization. (2.1) C7a-O bond formation: (route a). (2.2) O-C2 bond formation: (route b). (2.3) C2-C3 bond formation: (route c). (2.4) C3-C3a bond formation: (route d). (3) Ring generation via intermolecular cyclization. (3.1) C7a-O and C3-C3a bond formation (route a + d). (3.2) O-C2 and C2-C3 bond formation: (route b + c). (3.3) O-C2 and C3-C3a bond formation: (route b + d). (4) Benzannulation. (5) Conclusion.

Arynes and isocyanides: Two close-knit partners in multicomponent reactions.

Despite benzyne has been known since 1940, this fascinating species has received much attention only over the last decades. The renaissance of interest in aryne chemistry is ascribable to the seminal discovery that arynes can be generated in situ from stable and commercially available precursors under mild and neutral conditions. Thanks to their high reactivity, arynes are key intermediates in countless chemical transformations ranging from cycloadditions to insertions and, among all these approaches, multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are currently standing out in this field. In particular, this short article is focused on MCRs involving the concomitant use of benzyne and isocyanides. Furthermore, the first overview on aryne MCRs triggered by α-isocyanoacetamides is presented.

The renascence of continuous-flow peptide synthesis - an abridged account of solid and solution-based approaches.

Within a decade of Merrifield's seminal description of solid-phase peptide synthesis, the synergies between solid-phase approaches and flow synthesis were noted by a number of groups. However, despite the various advantages flow brings to peptide synthesis, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, interest in the technique was overshadowed by microwave assisted approaches. However, the current expansion of flow technologies has reinvigorated interest in both solid-phase and solution-phase continuous-flow approaches for assembling peptides. This perspective traces the introduction and evolution of continuous-flow solid-phase synthesis from a practical aspect with a particular focus on solid supports, acylation protocols, and racemisation suppression. Practical aspects of solution-phase continuous-flow peptide synthesis are also considered with an evaluation of microreactor systems, coupling protocols, and fragment-based approaches for assembly of extended peptide units.

Synthetic Strategies for Peroxide Ring Construction in Artemisinin.

The present review summarizes publications on the artemisinin peroxide fragment synthesis from 1983 to 2016. The data are classified according to the structures of a precursor used in the key peroxidation step of artemisinin peroxide cycle synthesis. The first part of the review comprises the construction of artemisinin peroxide fragment in total syntheses, in which peroxide artemisinin ring resulted from reactions of unsaturated keto derivatives with singlet oxygen or ozone. In the second part, the methods of artemisinin synthesis based on transformations of dihydroartemisinic acid are highlighted.

Asymmetric Synthesis of Isoquinoline Alkaloids: 2004-2015.

In the past decade, the asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonracemic isoquinoline alkaloids, a family of natural products showing a wide range of structural diversity and biological and pharmaceutical activity, has been based either on continuation or improvement of known traditional methods or on new, recently developed, strategies. Both diastereoselective and enantioselective catalytic methods have been applied. This review describes the stereochemically modified traditional syntheses (the Pictet-Spengler, the Bischler-Napieralski, and the Pomeranz-Fritsch-Bobbitt) along with strategies based on closing of the nitrogen-containing ring B of the isoquinoline core by the formation of bonds between C1-N2, N2-C3, C1-N2/N2-C3, and C1-N2/C4-C4a atoms. Methods involving introduction of substituents at the C1 carbon of isoquinoline core along with syntheses applying various biocatalytic techniques have also been reviewed.

Quest for the chemical synthesis of proteins.

The chemical synthesis of proteins has been the wish of chemists since the early 19th century. There were decisive methodological steps necessary to accomplish this aim. Cornerstones were the introduction of the Z-protecting group of Bergmann and Zervas, the development of Solid-phase Peptide Synthesis of Merrifield, and the establishment of Native Chemical Ligation by Kent. Chemical synthesis of proteins has now become generally applicable technique for the synthesis of proteins with tailor made properties which can be applied not only in vitro but also in vivo .Copyright © 2016 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organic synthesis in the Smith Group: a personal selection of a dozen lessons learned at the University of Pennsylvania.

The passionate study of the complex and ever-evolving discipline of organic synthesis over more than a four-decade span is certain to elucidate meaningful and significant lessons. Over this period, Amos B. Smith III, the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry and Member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has mentored well over 100 doctoral and masters students, more than 200 postdoctoral associates and numerous undergraduates, in addition to collaborating with a wide spectrum of internationally recognized scholars. His research interests, broadly stated, comprise complex molecule synthesis, the development of new, versatile and highly effective synthetic methods, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, peptide mimicry chemistry and material science. Each area demands a high level of synthetic design and execution. United by a passion to unlock the secrets of organic synthesis, and perhaps of Nature itself, innumerable lessons have been, and continue to be, learned by the members of the Smith Group. This lead article in a Special Issue of the Journal of Antibiotics affords an opportunity to share some of those lessons learned, albeit a small selection of personal favorites.

Sir John Cornforth AC CBE FRS: his synthetic work.

Sir John Cornforth work on the synthesis of cholesterolandpenicillamine, on the chemistry of oxazoles, the stereochemistry of the synthesis of alkenes, the synthesis of abscisic acid and of dibenzophospholes as mimics of enzyme action, is reviewed.

Chemical Identity Crisis: Glass and Glassblowing in the Identification of Organic Compounds.

This essay explains why and how nineteenth-century chemists sought to stabilize the melting and boiling points of organic substances as reliable characteristics of identity and purity and how, by the end of the century, they established these values as 'Constants of Nature'. Melting and boiling points as characteristic values emerge from this study as products of laboratory standardization, developed by chemists in their struggle to classify, understand and control organic nature. A major argument here concerns the role played by the introduction of organic synthesis in driving these changes. Synthetic organic chemistry vastly increased the number of known organic substances, precipitating the chemical identity crisis of my title. Successful natural product synthesis, moreover, depended on chemists' ability to demonstrate the absolute identity of synthetic product and natural target--something late nineteenth-century chemists eventually achieved by making reliable, replicable melting and boiling point measurements. In the period before the establishment of national standards laboratories, chemists and scientific glassblowers worked together to standardize melting and boiling points as physical constants, such collaborations highlighting the essential importance of chemical glassware and glassblowing skill in the development of nineteenth-century organic chemistry.

Robinson's landmark synthesis of tropinone.

The 1917 total synthesis of tropinone by Sir Robert Robinson represents a landmark achievement in organic synthesis. Decades ahead of its time in terms of its retrosynthetic logic and biomimetic approach, the elegant combination of these two elements in this synthesis continues to serve as an inspiration for the development of new and efficient strategies for complex molecule synthesis.

Schiff bases: a short survey on an evergreen chemistry tool.

The review reports a short biography of the Italian naturalized chemist Hugo Schiff and an outline on the synthesis and use of his most popular discovery: the imines, very well known and popular as Schiff Bases. Recent developments on their "metallo-imines" variants have been described. The applications of Schiff bases in organic synthesis as partner in Staudinger and hetero Diels-Alder reactions, as "privileged" ligands in the organometallic complexes and as biological active Schiff intermediates/targets have been reported as well.

Italian chemists' contributions to named reactions in organic synthesis: an historical perspective.

From the second half of the 19th century up to modern times, the tremendous contribution of Italian chemists to the development of science resulted in the discovery of a number of innovative chemical transformations. These reactions were subsequently christened according to their inventors' name and so entered into the organic chemistry portfolio of "named organic reactions". As these discoveries were being conceived, massive social, political and geographical changes in these chemists' homeland were also occurring. In this review, a brief survey of known (and some lesser known) named organic reactions discovered by Italian chemists, along with their historical contextualization, is presented.