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Despite recent advances in reactions using alkylnitriles as carbon nucleophiles, diastereoselective direct catalytic asymmetric reactions, in which two consecutive chiral centers could be controlled, remain largely unexplored. Herein, we report the addition of alkylnitriles (such as propionitrile) to imines in the presence of a catalytic amount of a chiral pincer-type Ni-carbene complex and potassium 2,6-di

Pyrrolidines are significant N-heterocycles in medicinal chemistry and are among the top ten ring systems found in drug molecules. While simple derivatives are commercially available, densely decorated derivatives with precise stereochemical arrangements remain difficult to obtain. Methods for synthesizing multisubstituted pyrrolidines with nonadjacent stereocenters are particularly scarce. To bridge this gap, we report the stereoselective synthesis of remotely decorated, trisubstituted β-prolines via Rh-catalyzed C-H amination. The transformation proceeds well in the presence of various functionalities with exclusive anti-selectivity. Carboxylic acids in the products serve as gateways for diverse downstream transformations. Furthermore, the combined experimental and computational study sheds lights on the origin of high diastereoselectivity.

Selective modulation of autophagy is a promising therapeutic strategy, especially for cancer treatment. However, the lack of specific autophagy inhibitors limits this strategy. The formation of the ATG12-ATG5-ATG16L1 complex is essential for targeting the ATG12-ATG5 conjugate to proper membranes and to generate LC3-II for the progression of autophagy. Thus, targeting ATG5-ATG16L1 protein-protein interactions (PPIs) might inhibit early stage autophagy with high specificity. In this paper, we report that a stapled peptide derived from ATG16L1 exhibits potent binding affinity to ATG5, striking resistance to proteolysis, and significant autophagy inhibition activities in cells.

An iterative hydride reduction/oxidation process was promoted under ambient conditions by a quasi-planar iminium cation rigidified by two concatenated quinoline units. The iminium proton was fixed by hydrogen bonding from neighboring quinoline nitrogen atoms, rendering the imine highly susceptible to hydride reduction with weak reductants, e.g., 1,4-dihydropyridines. The thus-formed amine was readily oxidized by molecular oxygen to regenerate the quasi-planar iminium cation under ambient conditions. This process was exploited for catalytic oxidation of 1,4-dihydropyridines as well as 9,10-dihydroacridine to highlight an intriguing rigidity-driven catalysis.

The advent of saturated N-heterocycles as valuable building blocks in medicinal chemistry has led to the development of new methods to construct such nitrogen-containing cyclic frameworks. Despite the apparent strategic clarity, intramolecular C–H aminations with metallonitrenes have only sporadically been explored in this direction because of the intractability of the requisite alkyl nitrenes. Here, we report copper-catalysed intramolecular amination using an alkyl nitrene generated from substituted isoxazolidin-5-ones upon N–O bond cleavage. The copper catalysis exclusively aminates aromatic C(sp2)–H bonds among other potentially reactive groups, offering a solution to the chemoselectivity problem that has been troublesome with rhodium catalysis. A combined experimental and computational study suggested that the active species in the current cyclic β-amino acid synthesis is a dicopper alkyl nitrene, which follows a cyclisation pathway distinct from the analogous alkyl metallonitrene., Copper-catalysed conditions have been developed for the chemoselective synthesis of cyclic β-amino acids.

Vicinal oxygen-containing tetra- and tri-substituted stereocenters exist widely in chromanone lactone and tetrahydroxanthone natural products. Their enantioselective construction in a single step remains elusive and poses a formidable challenge for chemical synthesis. Here, we report the first copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric vinylogous additions of siloxyfurans to 2-ester-substituted chromones, which enable concise and enantioselective assembly of chromanone lactones. Both syn and anti adducts can be accessed with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivity by judicious choice of the chiral ligands. Our approach allowed for the efficient synthesis of (-)-blennolide B with precise stereochemical control, which provides a formal synthesis of secalonic acid A.

This review describes our efforts toward achieving catalytic asymmetric total synthesis of leucinostatin A, a compound that interferes with the tumor-stroma interaction. The synthesis utilizes four catalytic asymmetric reactions, including direct-type reactions exemplified by high atom-economy, and three C-C bond forming reactions. Thorough analysis of the NMR data, HPLC profiles, and biologic activity led us to unambiguously revise the absolute configuration regarding the 6-position of the AHMOD residue side chain from S (reported) to R. Other examples of previously reported important studies on the stereoselective synthesis of HyLeu and AHMOD are also described.

We introduce O-benzoylhydroxylamines as competent alkyl nitrene precursors. The combination of readily available, stable substrates and a proficient rhodium catalyst provides a straightforward means for the construction of various pyrrolidine rings from the corresponding primary amines. Preliminary mechanistic investigation suggests that the structure of the nitrene precursor plays a role in determining the nature of the resulting reactive intermediate.

A cascade alkene sulfonylation that simultaneously forges C-S and C-C bonds is a highly efficient and powerful approach for directly accessing structurally diverse sulfonylated compounds in a single operation. The reaction was enabled by visible-light-mediated regioselective radical addition of sulfonyl chlorides to 2-arylstyrenes using fac[Ir(ppy)3] as a photocatalyst, demonstrating its unique role in a photocascade process to execute atom transfer radical addition (ATRA) followed by photocyclization. A new class of sulfonyl-substituted fluorenes and pyrroloindoles, which are useful in the field of photoelectronic materials and medicinal chemistry, was produced in excellent yields by this photocascade reaction. In contrast, the cyclization was interrupted when using the [Ru(bpy)3Cl2] catalyst having lower reduction potential, leading only to the formation of a C-S bond and the production of acyclic sulfonylated 2-arylstyrenes under identical reaction conditions. The synthetic utility of the present room-temperature photocatalysis is enhanced by the broad availability of bench-stable sulfonyl chlorides and unactivated olefins, thereby providing a cost-effective and broad-scope protocol.

An efficient cooperative chiral Lewis acid/photoredox catalytic system for engaging highly reactive radicals in highly enantioselective conjugate addition to α,β-unsaturated carbonyls is highly desirable. Direct photoexcitation of unbound substrates typically induces undesired background pathways for racemic products and remains a formidable challenge to be addressed in the area of enantioselective photocatalysis. Herein, we report a cooperative catalytic system comprising a chiral Cu(i) complex and an Ir(iii) photocatalyst fueled by visible-light irradiation that allows for seamless integration of the catalytic formation of α-amino alkyl radicals and subsequent enantioselective addition to α,β-unsaturated amides. A 7-aza-6-MeO-indoline attachment on the amide substrates plays a pivotal role in suppressing the undesired pathways, resulting in excellent enantioselectivity and enabling expedited access to valuable γ-aminobutyramides. The indoline amide was readily diversified with full recovery of the azaindoline attachment, highlighting the synthetic utility of this cooperative catalytic system., An efficient cooperative chiral Lewis acid and photoredox catalytic system towards the highly enantioselective radical conjugate addition of α-amino radicals to α,β-unsaturated amides is developed with the implementation of unique auxiliaries.

Modulation of prostate stromal cells (PrSCs) within tumor tissues is gaining attention for the treatment of solid tumors. Using our original in vitro coculture system, we previously reported that leucinostatin (LCS)-A, a peptide mycotoxin, inhibited prostate cancer DU-145 cell growth through reduction of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) expression in PrSCs. To further obtain additional bioactive compounds from LCS-A, we designed and synthesized a series of LCS-A derivatives as compounds that target PrSCs. Among the synthesized LCS-A derivatives, LCS-7 reduced IGF-I expression in PrSCs with lower toxicity to PrSCs and mice than LCS-A. As LCS-A has been suggested to interact with mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase, a docking study was performed to elucidate the mechanism of reduced IGF-I expression in the PrSCs. As expected, LCS-A and LCS-7 directly interacted with mitochondrial ATP synthase, and like LCS-A and LCS-7, other mitochondrial ATP synthase inhibitors also reduced the expression of IGF-I by PrSCs. Furthermore, LCS-A and LCS-7 significantly decreased the growth of mouse xenograft tumors. Based on these data, we propose that the mitochondrial ATP synthases-IGF-I axis of PrSCs plays a critical role on cancer cell growth and inhibition could be a potential anticancer target for prostate cancer.

In a screening using our unique natural product library, the C-nucleoside antibiotic formycin A, which exerts strong anti-influenza virus activity, was rediscovered. Aiming to develop a new type of anti-influenza virus drug, we synthesized new derivatives of formycin and evaluated its anti-influenza virus activity. Structural modifications were focused on the base moiety and sugar portion, respectively, and40 novel formycin derivatives were synthesized. Modification of the C-7 position of the pyrazolopyrimidine ring strongly contributed to improve the activity. In particular, excellent anti-influenza virus activity was observed in the NHMe (10), SMe (12), and SeMe (15) derivatives, in which heteroatoms were introduced. In addition, in the modification of the sugar moiety, the presence of a hydroxyl group and its stereochemistry greatly affected both the expression and intensity of the activity. Furthermore, the evaluation results of the 7-SEt derivative (29) and the 2'-modified derivative (59) suggested that structural modifications may reduce cytotoxicity.

Catalytic asymmetric nitrene transfer has emerged as a reliable method for the synthesis of nitrogen-containing chiral compounds. Herein, we report the copper-catalyzed intramolecular asymmetric electrophilic amination of aromatic rings. The reactive intermediate is a copper-alkyl nitrene generated from isoxazolidin-5-ones. Copper catalysis promotes three classes of asymmetric transformations, namely, asymmetric desymmetrization, parallel kinetic resolution, and kinetic resolution, expanding the repertoire of alkyl nitrene transfer and providing various cyclic and linear β-amino acids in their enantioenriched forms.

An anti-selective catalytic asymmetric Michael-type vinylogous addition of β,γ-butenolides to chromones was developed. The catalyst system developed herein is characterized by tuning of the steric and electronic effects using a proper Biphep-type chiral ligand to invert the diastereoselection, and improvement of the catalyst turnover by a coordinative phenolic additive. The catalytic protocol renders potentially biologically active natural product analogs accessible in good yield with moderate diastereoselectivity and high enantiomeric purity, mostly greater than 99% ee., An anti-selective catalytic asymmetric Michael-type vinylogous addition of β,γ-butenolides to chromones was developed.

Z or E enolate geometry is the primary determinant of diastereoselectivity in the aldol reaction. Although amide and thioamide enolates are anticipated to have predominantly the E geometry because of the intrinsic steric demand, spectroscopic confirmation of the geometry in solution has remained elusive, particularly in the realm of highly stereoselective catalytic asymmetric aldol reactions. Herein we demonstrate that the 7-azaindoline auxiliary enables direct observation of the exclusive formation of the Z-enolate of the thioamide en route to a highly syn-selective aldol reaction.

A new catalytic system comprising chiral Ag complex and Li aryloxide/bisphosphine oxide is developed for the synthesis of β2,2-amino acids via direct asymmetric Mannich-type reaction of 4-subsituted isoxazolidin-5-ones. The Mannich adduct is a direct precursor of β-peptidic compounds otherwise difficult to obtain.

Despite significant advances in catalytic asymmetric reactions with decent stereocontrol, those using acetonitrile as a pronucleophile are often disregarded due to their low reactivity and insufficient enantioselectivity. Herein we report the resurgence of this reaction in the chemical toolbox with high enantioselectivity (avg. > 95% ee). The combined use of a Ni(II) complex ligated with a chiral biscarbene and tBuOK engages acetonitrile in the catalytic generation of an α-cyanocarbanion and subsequent highly enantioselective addition to aldimines.

Electrophilic aminations involve an umpolung of a nitrogen atom, providing an alternate, distinctive synthetic strategy. The recent advent of various designed O-substituted hydroxylamines has significantly advanced this research field. An underappreciated issue is atom economy of the transformations: The necessary activating group on the oxygen atom is left in coproduced waste. Herein, we describe Rh-catalyzed electrophilic amination of substituted isoxazolidin-5-ones for the synthesis of unprotected, cyclic β-amino acids featuring either benzo-fused or spirocyclic scaffolds. Using the cyclic hydroxylamines allows for retaining both nitrogen and oxygen functionalities in the product. The traceless, redox neutral process proceeds on a gram scale with as little as 0.1 mol % catalyst loading. In contrast to related electrophilic aminations in the literature, a series of mechanistic experiments suggests a unique pathway involving spirocyclization, followed by the skeletal rearrangement. The insights provided herein shed light on a nuanced reactivity of the active species, Rh-nitrenoid generated from the activated hydroxylamine, and extend the knowledge on electrophilic aromatic substitutions.

The B3 NO2 six-membered heterocycle (1,3-dioxa-5-aza-2,4,6-triborinane=DATB), comprising three different non-carbon period 2 elements, has been recently demonstrated to be a powerful catalyst for dehydrative condensation of carboxylic acids and amines. The tedious synthesis of DATB, however, has significantly diminished its utility as a catalyst, and thus the inherent chemical properties of the ring system have remained virtually unexplored. Here, a general and facile synthetic strategy that harnesses a pyrimidine-containing scaffold for the reliable installation of boron atoms is disclosed, giving rise to a series of Pym-DATBs from inexpensive materials in a modular fashion. The identification of a soluble Pym-DATB derivative allowed for the investigation of the dynamic nature of the B3 NO2 ring system, revealing differential ring-closing and -opening behaviors depending on the medium. Readily accessible Pym-DATBs proved their utility as efficient catalysts for dehydrative amidation with broad substrate scope and functional-group tolerance, offering a general and practical catalytic alternative to reagent-driven amidation.

A direct catalytic asymmetric addition of acetonitrile to aldehydes that realizes over 90 % ee is the ultimate challenge in alkylnitrile addition chemistry. Herein, we report achieving high enantioselectivity by the strategic use of a sterically demanding NiII pincer carbene complex, which afforded highly enantioenriched β-hydroxynitriles. This highly atom-economical process paves the way for exploiting inexpensive acetonitrile as a promising C2 building block in a practical synthetic toolbox for asymmetric catalysis.

A fluorine-containing tetrasubstituted stereogenic center is a highly valued structural feature in medicinal chemistry. Herein, we describe the direct coupling of racemic α-fluoronitriles and aldehydes promoted by a chiral CuI /Barton's base catalytic system, delivering α-tetrasubstituted α-fluoro-β-hydroxynitriles with satisfactory stereoselection. The stereochemical course was positively biased by the combined use of asymmetrical achiral thiourea as a supplementary ligand for CuI , which significantly enhanced the stereoselectivity. Both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes were implemented to provide densely and stereoselectively functionalized chiral building blocks with aliphatic and aromatic tails.

A cascade alkene sulfonylation that simultaneously forges C-S and C-C bonds is a highly efficient and powerful approach for directly accessing structurally diverse sulfonylated compounds in a single operation. The reaction was enabled by visible-light-mediated regioselective radical addition of sulfonyl chlorides to 2-arylstyrenes using

α,β-Unsaturated amides were incorporated as viable dipolarophiles in a catalytic asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine imines. The use of a 7-azaindoline auxiliary was essential to acquire sufficient reactivity with excellent diastereoselectivity, likely due to the chelating activation of the amide by the In(III)/bishydroxamic acid complex. Although the enantioselectivity remains unsatisfactory, this work is an important step toward the development of an asymmetric catalysis utilizing stable and low-reactive substrates.

Boron serves a distinctive role in a broad range of chemistry disciplines. The utility of the element lies in its Lewis acidity, and thus, it is crucial to understand the properties of the boron atom in chemically different contexts. Herein, a combination of experiments and computations reveals the nuanced nature of boron in direct amidation reactions catalyzed by recently disclosed 1,3-dioxa-5-aza-2,4,6-triborinanes (DATBs). The most active DATB catalyst has been shown to bear an azaborine ring in its structure, thus having four boron atoms in a single molecule. Three chemically distinct boron atoms in the catalyst framework have been shown to serve different roles in the catalytic cycle, depending on their innate Lewis acidity. More specifically, the most Lewis acidic boron interacts with the amine, whereas the two boron atoms in the B–N–B substructure acquire Lewis acidity only upon protonation of the center nitrogen atom. Furthermore, although the least acidic boron atom in the azaborine ring did not ...

Nonreducing disaccharide trehalose is used as a stabilizer and humectant in various products and is a potential medicinal drug, showing curative effects on the animal models of various diseases. However, its use is limited as it is hydrolyzed by trehalase, a widely expressed enzyme in multiple organisms. Several trehalose analogs are prepared, including a microbial metabolite 4-trehalosamine, and their high biological stability is confirmed. For further analysis, 4-trehalosamine is selected as it shows high producibility. Compared with trehalose, 4-trehalosamine exhibits better or comparable protective activities and a high buffer capacity around the neutral pH. Another advantage of 4-trehalosamine is its chemical modifiability: simple reactions produce its various derivatives. Labeled probes and detergents are synthesized in one-pot reactions to exemplify the feasibility of their production, and their utility is confirmed for their respective applications. The labeled probes are used for mycobacterial staining. Although the derivative detergents can be effectively used in membrane protein research, long-chain detergents show 1000-3000-fold stronger autophagy-inducing activity in cultured cells than trehalose and are expected to become a drug lead and research reagent. These results indicate that 4-trehalosamine is a useful trehalose substitute for various purposes and a material to produce new useful derivative substances.

Thioureas have emerged as effective hydrogen-bonding catalysts over the last two decades, and they are broadly utilized in asymmetric catalysis. We report that achiral trisubstituted thioureas function as beneficial secondary ligands to CuI catalysts, thereby enabling highly diastereo- and enantioselective addition of α-fluoronitriles to imines. The structure of the thiourea significantly affects the reaction outcome, and kinetic experiments indicate that the thioureas enhance the stereocontrol by binding to the CuI complex. The reaction products can be readily transformed into valuable β-amino acid derivatives bearing a fluorinated tetrasubstituted stereogenic center.