The Meyer-Schuster rearrangement: a new synthetic strategy leading to prostaglandins and their drug analogs, Bimatoprost and Latanoprost

Gold(I) mediated Meyer-Schuster rearrangement for the installation of the ‘lower’ side chain of prostaglandins and their analogs has been developed. This Au-mediated rearrangement, featuring a low catalyst loading and mild reaction conditions, has been demonstrated to be an efficient alternative to the standard Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction in prostaglandin chemistry. Moreover, the present results provide a new synthetic process leading to pharmacologically active prostanoids: Latanoprost and Bimatoprost, that continue to hold key positions in the anti-glaucoma drug market.     

Gold-catalyzed regiospecific intermolecular hydrothiolation of allenes

AuBr₃-catalyzed regiospecific intermolecular hydrothiolation of aromatic allenes and aromatic thiols afforded the corresponding dithioacetals in good yields at 0 °C in 5 min.     

Glycation sites in neoglycoglycoconjugates from the terminal monosaccharide antigen of the O‐PS of Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa,and BSA revealed by matrix‐assisted laser desorption–ionization tandem mass spectrometry

We present the MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐MS analyses of various hapten–bovine serum albumin (BSA) neoglycoconjugates obtained by squaric acid chemistry coupling of the spacer‐equipped, terminal monosaccharide of the O‐specific polysaccharide of Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa, to BSA. These analyses allowed not only to calculate the molecular masses of the hapten–BSA neoglycoconjugates with different hapten–BSA ratios (4.3, 6.6 and 13.2) but, more importantly, also to localize the covalent linkages (conjugation sites) between the hapten and the carrier protein. Determination of the site of glycation was based on comparison of the MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐MS analysis of the peptides resulting from the digestion of BSA with similar data resulting from the digestion of BSA glycoconjugates, followed by sequencing by MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐MS/MS of the glycated peptides. The product‐ion scans of the protonated molecules were carried out with a MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐MS/MS tandem mass spectrometer equipped with a high‐collision energy cell. The high‐energy collision‐induced dissociation (CID) spectra afforded product ions formed by fragmentation of the carbohydrate hapten and amino acid sequences conjugated with fragments of the carbohydrate hapten. We were able to identify three conjugation sites on lysine residues (Lys235, Lys437 and Lys455). It was shown that these lysine residues are very reactive and bind lysine specific reagents. We presume that these Lys residues belong to those that are considered to be sterically more accessible on the surface of the tridimensional structure. The identification of the y‐series product ions was very useful for the sequencing of various peptides. The series of a‐ and b‐product ions confirmed the sequence of the conjugated peptides. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-2,5-dicarboxylic acid,C6H2N2O4S2, and its coordination polymers

Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, C₆H₂N₂O₄S₂, was isolated as a polycrystalline material, and its crystal structure was determined by ab-initio X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) methods. This species, upon deprotonation, was subsequently used in preparing the new coordination polymers Ag₂(C₆N₂O₄S₂), Mn(C₆N₂O₄S₂)(H₂O)₂, Co(C₆N₂O₄S₂)(H₂O)₂, Cu(C₆N₂O₄S₂)(H₂O) and Zn(C₆N₂O₄S₂)(H₂O)₂, fully characterized by analytical, thermal and XRPD structural methods – including in situ thermodiffractometry and simultaneous TGA and DSC. In the first-row transition metal derivatives, the [C₆N₂O₄S₂]^2? anion systematically prefers the N,O-chelating, vs. the expected O,O′-bridging, coordination mode, not allowing the formation of porous 3D frameworks. Indeed, these species are dense 1D coordination polymers. At variance, the silver derivative possesses a complex, dense 3D framework, due to the presence of μ₆-[C₆N₂O₄S₂]^2? ligands showing two μ₂-bridging carboxylates and two monohapto N-donor sites. When dehydration is viable, materials of E_n(C₆N₂O₄S₂) formulation are irreversibly recovered (n = 1 for E = Mn, Co, Zn, Cu; n = 2, for E = H).     

Rotational invariance and double frustration in the structures of gold clusters growing around the F(s)-defected MgO (100) surface

The interaction of small gold clusters (Au(n), n = 1-4, 20) and a gold monolayer with the MgO (100) surface surrounding a neutral oxygen vacancy (F(s) center) is investigated using density-functional (DF) calculations. It is found that the presence of the defect modifies the interaction of gold not only with the vacancy itself, but also with the oxygen and magnesium atoms around it by increasing both the adhesion energy and the equilibrium bond distances. This is at variance with the interaction of metal atoms with the regular MgO (100) surface or the F(s) defect itself, in which an increase of the adhesion energy is associated with a shortening of the metal-surface distance. The resulting double frustration and cylindrical invariance of the metal-surface interaction cause small gold clusters growing around an F(s) nucleation center to be highly fluxional in terms both of rotational freedom and of multiple competing structural motifs. Fragmentation energies of the gold clusters are also discussed, finding that the lowest-energy pathway corresponds to the detachment of a dimer.