Catalytic, Enantioselective ß-Protonation through a Cooperative Activation Strategy.

The NHC-catalyzed transformation of unsaturated aldehydes into saturated esters through an organocatalytic homoenolate process has been thoroughly studied. Leveraging a unique "Umpolung"-mediated ß-protonation, this process has evolved from a test bed for homoenolate reactivity to a broader platform for asymmetric catalysis. Inspired by our success in using the ß-protonation process to generate enals from ynals with good E/Z selectivity, our early studies found that an asymmetric variation of this reaction was not only feasible, but also adaptable to a kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols through NHC-catalyzed acylation. In-depth analysis of this process determined that careful catalyst and solvent pairing is critical for optimal yield and selectivity; proper choice of nonpolar solvent provided improved yield through suppression of an oxidative side reaction, while employment of a cooperative catalytic approach through inclusion of a hydrogen bond donor cocatalyst significantly improved enantioselectivity.

Total Synthesis of Nosiheptide.

Total synthesis of the bismacrocyclic thiopeptide antibiotic nosiheptide was achieved through the assembly of a fully functionalized linear precursor followed by consecutive macrocyclizations. Key features are a critical macrothiolactonization and a mild deprotection strategy for the 3-hydroxypyridine core. The natural product was identical to isolated authentic material in terms of spectral data and antibiotic activity.

N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed conjugate additions of alcohols.

An efficient intermolecular conjugate addition of alcohols to activated alkenes catalyzed by N-heterocyclic carbenes has been developed. With 5 mol % of the free carbene derived from IMes·HCl, unsaturated ketones and esters are competent substrates, and a variety of primary and secondary alcohols can be employed as the nucleophile. No oligomerization is observed under these mild conditions for effective hydroalkoxylation. In addition to reactions with activated alkenes, IMes catalyzes the formation of vinyl ethers through the 1,4-addition of alcohols to ynones and promotes tandem conjugate addition/Michael cascade reactions. Preliminary data support a Brønsted base mechanism with the free carbene.

Aza-Wittig access to chiral imidazol(in)es.

2-Imidazolines and imidazoles have been accessed by an aza-Wittig sequence featuring novel N-acylation methodology for sulfonamides and optimized conditions for ring closure.

Molecular details of quinolone-DNA interactions: solution structure of an unusually stable DNA duplex with covalently linked nalidixic acid residues and non-covalent complexes derived from it.

Quinolones are antibacterial drugs that are thought to bind preferentially to disturbed regions of DNA. They do not fall into the classical categories of intercalators, groove binders or electrostatic binders to the backbone. We solved the 3D structure of the DNA duplex (ACGCGU-NA)2, where NA denotes a nalidixic acid residue covalently linked to the 2'-position of 2'-amino-2'-deoxyuridine, by NMR and restrained torsion angle molecular dynamics (MD). In the complex, the quinolones stack on G:C base pairs of the core tetramer and disrupt the terminal A:U base pair. The displaced dA residues can stack on the quinolones, while the uracil rings bind in the minor groove. The duplex-bridging interactions of the drugs and the contacts of the displaced nucleotides explain the high UV-melting temperature for d(ACGCGU-NA)2 of up to 53 degrees C. Further, non-covalently linked complexes between quinolones and DNA of the sequence ACGCGT can be generated via MD using constraints obtained for d(ACGCGU-NA)2. This is demonstrated for unconjugated nalidixic acid and its 6-fluoro derivative. The well-ordered and tightly packed structures thus obtained are compatible with a published model for the quinolone-DNA complex in the active site of gyrases.