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Even though catalytic asymmetric bifunctionalization of allenes has been extensively studied, almost all of the reported examples have been achieved in a two-component manner. In this study, we report a highly efficient asymmetric bifunctionalization of allenes with iodohydrocarbons and NH 2 -unprotected amino acid esters. The adopted chiral aldehyde/palladium combined catalytic system precisely governs the chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity of this three-component reaction. A wide range of substituted aryl iodides, allenes and amino acid esters can well participate in this reaction and deliver structurally diverse α,α-disubstituted α-amino acid esters with excellent experimental outcomes. One of the resulting products is utilized for the total synthesis of the molecule ( S , R )-VPC01091., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Despite the long-standing exploration of the catalytic asymmetric Tsuji-Trost allylation reaction since the mid-20th century, most reported instances have adhered to a two-component approach. Here, we present a remarkably efficient three-component asymmetric allylation reaction enabled by the collaborative action of chiral aldehyde and palladium. A diverse array of NH 2 -unprotected amino acid esters, aryl or alkenyl iodides, and allyl alcohol esters exhibit robust participation in this reaction, resulting in the synthesis of structurally diverse non-proteinogenic α-amino acid esters with favorable experimental outcomes. Mechanistic investigations reveal the dominance of the allylation/Heck coupling cascade in reactions involving electron-rich aryl iodides, while the Heck coupling/allylation cascade emerges as the dominant pathway in reactions involving electron-deficient aryl iodides. This chiral aldehyde/palladium combining catalytic system precisely governs the chemoselectivity of C -allylation and N -allylation, the regioselectivity of linear and branched allylation, and the enantioselectivity of C -allylation products., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The direct catalytic α-hydrocarbylation of readily available amino acids with halohydrocarbons is one of the most straightforward methods leading to α,α-disubstituted non-proteinogenic α-amino acid compounds. However, all the reported methodologies depend on N-protected amino acids as starting materials. Herein, we report on three highly efficient aldehyde-catalyzed direct α-hydrocarbylations of N-unprotected amino acid esters with aryl-, allyl-, and benzyl halides. By promoting a simple chiral BINOL-aldehyde catalyst or combining catalysts of a chiral aldehyde and Lewis acid ZnCl 2 , the asymmetric α-arylation, α-allylation, and α-benzylation of amino acid esters with the corresponding halohydrocarbons proceed smoothly, producing α,α-disubstituted α-amino acids in moderate-to-high yields and good-to-excellent enantioselectivities. The asymmetric α-arylation reaction can be applied in the formal synthesis of the clinical candidate compound (+)-AG-041R. Based on the results given by control experiments, three reaction models are proposed to illustrate the stereoselective-control outcomes., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Chiral α-amino ketones are common structural motifs in natural products and pharmaceuticals, as well as important synthons in organic synthesis. Thus, establishing efficient methods for preparing compounds with these privileged scaffolds is an important endeavor in synthetic chemistry. Herein we disclose a new catalytic asymmetric approach for the synthesis of chiral α-amino ketones through a chiral palladium-catalyzed arylation reaction of in situ generated challenging α-keto imines from previously unreported C -acyl N -sulfonyl- N , O -aminals, with arylboronic acids. The current reaction offers a straightforward approach to the asymmetric synthesis of acyclic α-amino ketones in a practical and highly stereocontrolled manner. Meanwhile, the multiple roles of the chiral Pd(ii) complex catalyst in the reaction were also reported., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Rapid and catalyst-free hydrazone ligation reaction between ortho-halobenzaldehyde derivatives and peptide/protein hydrazides was observed at neutral pH and room temperature. 2-Chlorobenzaldehyde exhibited the fastest reaction and highest conversion rates among the series of ortho-halobenzaldehydes. The resulting hydrazone-containing bioconjugation products were also found to be fairly stable under experimental conditions. The new ligation strategy was successfully used for protein C-terminal labeling and should provide a practical approach for the modification of proteins.

An alternative stapling strategy is described herein using Fmoc-solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) that employed pre-prepared diaminodiacid building blocks to introduce all-hydrocarbon staples into peptides by on-resin cyclization. Compared to unstapled native peptides, diaminodiacid-based stapled peptides exhibited an increased α-helicity ratio and stability toward protease. Moreover, the linkage length was found to affect the bioactivity of the peptides and their ability to inhibit the Wnt pathway. Therefore, the new stapling method provides an alternative way to obtain stapled peptides with tunable linkers of diaminodiacids.

In this work, we describe an accelerated solid-phase synthetic protocol for ordinary or difficult peptides involving air-bath heating and amide protection. For the Hmsb-based backbone amide protection, an optimized acyl shift condition using 1,4-dioxane was discovered. The efficiency and robustness of the protocol was validated in the course of preparation of classical difficult peptides and ubiquitin protein segments.

A catalytic transfer hydrogenation process was developed for the production of γ-valerolactone (GVL) from ethyl levulinate (EL) and a H-donor at room temperature. Ethyl levulinate was almost quantitatively converted to γ-valerolactone. Further, a two step process for producing GVL from biomass derived platform molecules was also reported.

Arylboronic acids were found to be efficient catalysts for the amidation reactions between carboxylic acids and amines. Theoretical calculations have been carried out to investigate the mechanism of this catalytic process. It is found that the formation of the acyloxyboronic acid intermediates from the carboxylic acid and the arylboronic acid is kinetically facile but thermodynamically unfavorable. Removal of water (as experimentally accomplished by using molecular sieves) is therefore essential for overall transformation. Subsequently C-N bond formation between the acyloxyboronic acid intermediates and the amine occurs readily to generate the desired amide product. The cleavage of the C-O bond of the tetracoordinate acyl boronate intermediates is the rate-determining step in this process. Our analysis indicates that the mono(acyloxy)boronic acid is the key intermediate. The high catalytic activity of ortho-iodophenylboronic acid is attributed to the steric effect as well as the orbital interaction between the iodine atom and the boron atom.

A novel fluorescent probe, quinoline α,β-unsaturated diacid (QMA), as compared to its ester QME, was constructed and can selectively detect thiols in acidic solutions (pH < 7) via a H-bond activated Michael addition. Furthermore, labeling of lysosomes and cell imaging were achieved by the detection of biothiols in different domains of live cells.

Bioorthogonal reactions are useful tools to gain insights into the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules in the field of chemical biology. Recently, the Diels-Alder reaction has become a promising and attractive procedure for ligation in bioorthogonal chemistry because of its higher rate and selectivity in water. However, a drawback of the previous Diels-Alder ligation is that the widely used maleimide moiety as a typical Michael acceptor can readily undergo Michael addition with nucleophiles in living systems. Thus, it is important to develop a nucleophile-tolerant Diels-Alder system in order to extend the scope of the application of Diels-Alder ligation. To solve this problem, we found that the theoretical protocol M06-2X/6-31+G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) can accurately predict the activation free energies of Diels-Alder reactions with a precision of 1.4 kcal mol(-1) by benchmarking the calculations against the 72 available experimental data. Subsequently, the electronic effect and ring-strain effect on the Diels-Alder reaction were studied to guide the design of the new dienophiles. The criteria of the design is that the designed Diels-Alder reaction should have a lower barrier than the Michael addition, while at the same time it should show a similar (or even higher) reactivity as compared to the maleimide-involving Diels-Alder ligation. Among the designed dienophiles, three substituted cyclopropenes (i.e. 1,2-bis(trifluoromethyl)-, 1,2-bis(hydroxylmethyl)- and 1,2-bis(hydroxylmethyl)-3-carboxylcyclopropenes) meet our requirements. These substituted cyclopropene analogs could be synthesized and they are thermodynamically stable. As a result, we propose that 1,2-bis(trifluoromethyl)-, 1,2-bis(hydroxylmethyl)- and 1,2-bis(hydroxylmethyl)-3-carboxylcyclopropenes may be potential candidates for efficient and selective Diels-Alder ligation in living systems.

Two modified beta-cyclodextrins (beta-CDs) with a thymine dimer and a thymine oxetane adduct respectively, TD-CD and Ox-CD, have been prepared, and utilized to bind an electron-rich chromophore, indole or N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA), to form a supramolecular complex. We have examined the photosensitized splitting of the dimer/oxetane unit in TD-CD/Ox-CD by indole or DMA via an electron-transfer pathway, and observed high splitting efficiencies of the dimer/oxetane unit. On the basis of measurements of fluorescence spectra and splitting quantum yields, it is suggested that the splitting reaction occurs in a supramolecular complex by an inclusion interaction between the modified beta-CDs and DMA or indole. The back electron transfer, which leads low splitting efficiencies for the covalently-linked chromophore-dimer/oxetane compounds, is suppressed in the non-covalently-bound complex, and the mechanism has been discussed.

Three covalently linked tryptophan-thymine oxetane compounds used as a model of the (6-4) photolyase-substrate complex have been prepared. Under 290 nm light, efficient splitting of the thymine oxetane with aromatic carbonyl compounds gives the thymine monomer and the corresponding carbonyl compounds by the covalently linked tryptophan via an intramolecular electron transfer, and exhibits a strong solvent dependence: the quantum yield (Phi) is ca. 0.1 in dioxane, and near 0.3 in water. Electron transfer from the excited tryptophan residue to the oxetane unit is the origin of fluorescence quenching of the tryptophan residue, and is more efficient in strong polar solvents. The splitting efficiency of the oxetane radical anion within the tryptophan.+-oxetane.- species is also solvent-dependent, ranging from ca. 0.2 in dioxane to near 0.35 in water. Thus, the back electron transfer reaction in the charge-separated species would be suppressed in water, but is still a main factor causing low splitting efficiencies in the tryptophan-oxetane systems. In contrast to the tryptophan-oxetane system, fast nonradiation processes are the main causes of low efficiency in the flavin-oxetane system. Hence, nonradiative processes of the excited FADH-, rather than electron transfer to oxetane, may be an important factor for the low repair efficiency of (6-4) photolyase.

A number of lithium bonding systems (X-LiY) have been found in which the X-Li bond is shortened due to the lithium bond formation.

Catalysed by bromobenzene, alkali metals including Li, Na, and K can mediate the reductive coupling of carbonyl compounds under mild, solventless conditions to furnish the corresponding pinacol products.