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L-amino acids (L-AAs) play different important roles in the physiology of all living organisms. Their chiral counterparts, D-amino acids (D-AAs) are increasingly being recognized as essential molecules in many biological systems. Secondary amino acids with cyclic structures, such as prolines, exhibit conformational rigidity and thus unique properties in the structural and protein folding. Despite their widespread occurrence, much less attention was paid to their chiral analysis, particularly when the minor, typically D-enantiomer, is present in low amounts in a complex biological matrix. In this paper, a cost-effective, chiral GC-MS method is described for capillary Chirasil-L-Val separation of nine cyclic secondary amino acid enantiomers with four-, five-, and six-membered rings, involving azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, pipecolic acid, nipecotic acid, proline, isomeric cis/trans 3-hydroxy, 4-hydroxyproline, and cis/trans-5-hydroxy-L-pipecolic acid in the excess of its enantiomeric antipode. The sample preparation involves in-situ derivatization with heptafluorobutyl chloroformate, simultaneous liquid-liquid micro-extraction into isooctane followed by amidation of the arising low-polar derivatives with methylamine, an evaporation step, re-dissolution, and final GC-MS analysis. The developed method was used for analyses of human biofluids, biologically active peptides containing chiral proline constituents, and collagen.

The protection of carboxyl groups by esterification has been the most common method in macroscale and microscale chemistries. The esterification is usually conducted under anhydrous conditions; however, in biological chemistry and related fields, the reaction is of major concern in aqueous environments. Immediate esterification of the carboxyl in aqueous alcoholic media driven by an alkyl chloroformate and pyridine has been such a method which has found widespread use in many research and industrial laboratories. Nevertheless, the reaction mechanism has not yet been investigated, to our knowledge, and is not well understood. Herein, we describe the reaction intermediates and demonstrate that the reaction proceeds via a continual formation of the N-acylpyridinium intermediate decomposed by several reaction channels to the final ester. The understanding of the mechanism could encourage novel laboratory applications of this important esterification method.

L-amino acids (L-AAs) play different important roles in the physiology of all living organisms. Their chiral counterparts, D-amino acids (D-AAs) are increasingly being recognized as essential molecules in many biological systems. Secondary amino acids with cyclic structures, such as prolines, exhibit conformational rigidity and thus unique properties in the structural and protein folding. Despite their widespread occurrence, much less attention was paid to their chiral analysis, particularly when the minor, typically D-enantiomer, is present in low amounts in a complex biological matrix. In this paper, a cost-effective, chiral GC-MS method is described for capillary Chirasil-L-Val separation of nine cyclic secondary amino acid enantiomers with four-, five-, and six-membered rings, involving azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, pipecolic acid, nipecotic acid, proline, isomeric cis/trans 3-hydroxy, 4-hydroxyproline, and cis/trans-5-hydroxy-L-pipecolic acid in the excess of its enantiomeric antipode. The sample preparation involves in-situ derivatization with heptafluorobutyl chloroformate, simultaneous liquid-liquid micro-extraction into isooctane followed by amidation of the arising low-polar derivatives with methylamine, an evaporation step, re-dissolution, and final GC-MS analysis. The developed method was used for analyses of human biofluids, biologically active peptides containing chiral proline constituents, and collagen.

Numerous industrial organic pollutants such as aromates, alkoxyalcohols, other organic solvents and monomers are absorbed, metabolized, and finally excreted in urine mostly as carboxylic acids that are determined as biomarkers of exposure. For a number of these xenometabolites, biological limits (levels of biomarkers in biological material) have been established to prevent damage to human health. Till now, most of the analytical procedures used have been optimized for one or a few analytes. Here, we report a more comprehensive approach enabling rapid GC-MS screening of sixteen acidic biomarkers in urine that are metabolized in the human body from several important industrial chemicals; benzene, toluene, styrene, xylenes, alkoxyalcohols, carbon disulfide, furfural and N,N-dimethylformamide. The new method involves immediate in situ derivatization - liquid liquid microextraction of urine by an ethyl chloroformate-ethanol-chloroform-pyridine medium and GC-MS analysis of the derivatized analytes in the lower organic phase. The xenometabolite set represents diverse chemical structures and some of hippuric and mercapturic acids also provided unusual derivatives that were unambiguously elucidated by means of new ethyl chloroformates labeled with stable isotopes and by synthesis of the missing reference standards. In the next step, an automated routine was developed for GC-MS/MS analysis using a MetaboAuto® sample preparation workstation and the new method was validated for fourteen metabolites over the relevant concentration range of each analyte in the spiked pooled human urine. It shows good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.982), accuracy (from 85% to 120%), precision (from 0.7% to 20%) and recovery (from 89% to 120%). The method performance was further successfully proved by GC-MS/MS analysis of the certified IP45 and RM6009 reference urines. Moreover, we show that the new method opens up the possibility for biomonitoring of combined and cumulative occupational exposures as well as for urinary metabolite profiling of persons exposed to harmful industrial chemicals.

Diethyl 1-fluoro-1-phenylsulfonylmethanephosphonate (1) in the presence of cesium carbonate undergoes efficient 1,4-addition to Michael acceptors having terminal double bonds such as α,β-unsaturated ketones, esters, sulfones, sulfoxides, and phosphonates to yield the corresponding adducts in good to excellent yields. In the presence of sodium hydride, 1 reacts with α,β-enones to provide γ-fluoro-γ-phenylsulfonylenol phosphates arising from 1,4-addition followed by phosphonate to phosphate rearrangement.

PhSCF2CF2SiMe3 undergoes a fluoride-catalyzed nucleophilic addition to N-substituted cyclic amides affording adducts in moderate to good yields. Reductive cleavage of the phenylsulfanyl group of N-methylated adducts under radical conditions yields the corresponding tetrafluoroethyl-containing adducts in excellent yields. Under the same reduction conditions, N-allylated adducts undergo 6-exo radical cyclization to afford the corresponding tetrafluorinated 1-azabicyclic compounds in moderate to good yields and cis selectivities.

Tetraethyl fluoromethylenebisphosphonate in the presence of cesium carbonate in DMF undergoes efficient 1,4-addition to Michael acceptors having terminal double bond such as α,β-unsaturated ketones, esters, sulfones, sulfoxides, and phosphonates to yield the corresponding adducts (α-alkyl-α-fluoromethylenebisphosphonates) in good to excellent yields.

The synthesis of the new fluorinated C1 reagent is described and applied in the stereoselective syntheses of novel fluoronitroalkenes by Horner—Wadsworth—Emmons reaction with carbonyl compounds.

Diethyl fluoronitromethylphosphonate (3), a previously unknown compound, was synthesized by electrophilic fluorination of diethyl nitromethylphosphonate with Selectfluor. Base-induced decomposition of 3 was studied by NMR spectroscopy, which identified diethyl fluorophosphate and fluoronitromethane as the main decomposition products. C-H acidities [pK(a) values in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)] of 3, 1-fluoro-1-phenylsulfonylmethanephosphonate (1; McCarthy's reagent), tetraethyl fluoromethylenebisphosphonate (2), and some nonfluorinated phosphonates were computed, and a good correlation between calculated and experimental pK(a) values was found. The calculated C-H acidities increased in the sequence 2

Base-mediated alkylation of commercially available α-fluoromethylenebisphosphonate (I) provides a novel access towards title α-alkyl-α-fluoromethylenebisphosphonates (III) and (VII).

Optimum reaction conditions are examined for the addition of tetraethyl fluoromethylenebisphosphonate (I) to α,β-unsaturated compounds of type (II) or (IV).

In some cases the products (VIII) have to be purified for several times resulting in lower yields.

A new route to α-alkyl-α-fluoromethylenebisphosphonates, 2 has been developed starting from commercially available tetraethyl fluoromethylenebisphosphonate (1), and alkyl halides using either caesium carbonate in DMF or sodium dimsyl. De-esterification of 2 provided biologically important α-alkyl-α-fluoromethylenebisphosphonic acid, 3, while alkoxide-induced carbon-phosphorus bond cleavage of 2 gave α-fluorophosphonates, 4, which are useful synthons in organic synthesis.

6-Alkynyl-7-benzylpurines were prepared by the Sonogashira reaction from 6-chloro-7-benzylpurines and terminal alkynes. The prepared alkynylpurines were cyclotrimerized with various 1,6-diynes in the presence of Ni(cod) 2 /2PPh 3 catalytic system into the corresponding 6-aryl-7-benzylpurines under ambient conditions. The prepared 6-alkynyl- and 6-aryl-7-benzylpurines were tested for cytostatic activity.