Effect of temperature on the dilution enthalpies of α,ω-amino acids in aqueous solutions

Dilution enthalpies of aqueous solutions of 3-amino propanoic acid, 4-amino butanoic acid, 5-amino pentanoic acid, and 6-amino hexanoic acid were determined at T = (293.15, 298.15, 303.15, and 308.15) K using an LKB flow microcalorimeter. The homotactic interaction coefficients were obtained according to the McMillan–Mayer theory from the experimental data. For all the systems studied, the dilution of α,ω-amino acids in water is an exothermic process; the pair coefficients have positive values which increases with chain length. The obtained values of the interaction coefficients are interpreted in terms of solute–solvent and solute–solute interactions and are used as indicative of hydrophobic behavior of the amino acid studied.     

Standard enthalpies of formation of 4-methylbiphenyl and 4,4′-dimethylbiphenyl

The energies of combustion of 4-methylbiphenyl and 4,4′-dimethylbiphenyl in the crystal state were measured in a precision calorimeter equipped with a self-sealing bomb at 298.15 K. The enthalpies of vaporization of these substances were measured in an isothermal heat-conducting Calvet microcalorimeter. Standard enthalpies of formation were calculated for 4-methylbiphenyl and 4,4′-dimethylbiphenyl in the crystal, liquid, and gas states.     

Complex formation of crown ethers with α-amino acids: Estimation by NMR spectroscopy

Complex formation of 18-crown-6 and dibenzo crowns with glycine, leucine, and norleucine was studied by NMR spectroscopy. The efficiency of non-valence interactions with participation of different active centers of the host and guest molecules is determined by solvation effects, mutual arrangement of benzene rings in dibenzo crowns, and the presence of bulky aliphatic substituents in the α-amino acid. The complexation of dibenzo crowns with α-amino acids in acid medium involves a system of different non-valence interactions, the most efficient of which are NH ₃ ⁺ ... O hydrogen bond between the ammonium group in the guest molecule and ether oxygen atoms in the host molecule and dipole-dipole interaction between the guest ammonium group and host benzene ring (NH ₃ ⁺ ... Ar). The efficiency of NH ₃ ⁺ ... O hydrogen bonding decreases in going from 18-crown-6 to dibenzo crowns due to distortion of symmetry of the macroring cavity and violation of geometric complementarity of some ether oxygen atoms. The integral efficiency of non-valence interactions in the system dibenzo crown-α-amino acid was estimated on a quantitative level by ¹H NMR relaxation technique.     

Enantiospecific synthesis of α-amino acid semialdehydes: a key step for the synthesis of unnatural unsaturated and saturated α-amino acids

The enantiospecific synthesis of unnatural unsaturated and saturated α-amino acids based on a Wittig type reaction is described. The versatile synthetic intermediates, l-glutamic and l-aspartic acid semialdehydes, are obtained from the corresponding N,N-di-Boc-diesters, by the selective reduction of the ω-ester with DIBAL^® under controlled conditions. The semialdehydes are chemically stable for a prolonged time and react with various phosphorous ylides, under controlled conditions, to produce the enantiomerically pure unsaturated α-amino acids in high yields. The method is equally applicable to homologated diesters obtained by the presented methodology providing unsaturated amino acids with variable unsaturated positions and geometries. The corresponding saturated products can be obtained by simple hydrogenation.     

Standard enthalpies of formation of α-aminobutyric acid and products of its dissociation in an aqueous solution

Heats of solution of crystalline α-aminobutyric acid in water and in aqueous solutions of potassium hydroxide at 298.15 K are measured by means of direct calorimetry. Standard enthalpies of formation of the amino acid and products of its dissociation in an aqueous solution are calculated.     

Synthesis and resolution of new paramagnetic α-amino acids

New, paramagnetic unnatural α-amino acids were synthesized by the O'Donnell method. In the new amino acids nitroxide is condensed with thiophene, benzene, and tetrahydroisoquinoline ring, or linked through a methylene, benzyl or propargyl spacer. Some of the racemic paramagnetic α-amino acid esters described earlier or in this work were resolved by fractional crystallization of diastereomeric salts. Another approach for optically active paramagnetic amino acids is the modification of S-tyrosine derivatives with Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions with paramagnetic acetylene and with a paramagnetic boronic acid.     

A new general, practical and enantioselective synthesis of α-amino acids

In recent years, considerable efforts have been expended to the development ofenantioselective synthesis of α-amino acids and the use of α-amino acids as chiralbuilding blocks for the synthesis of complex molecules. Numerous unnatural aminoacids which are often the characteristic units of biologically active peptides, have alsobeen discovered. Herein we describe a convenient and general access to natural andunnatural α-amino acids which are based on the use of the chiral building blocks,(S)-1a-e and (R)-1a-e from kinetic resolution of α-furfuryl amines (Scheme 1).     

Chirality measures of α-amino acids

To measure molecular chirality, the molecule is treated as a finite set of points in the Euclidean R(3) space supplemented by k properties, p(1)((i)), p(2)((i)), ..., p(k)((i)) assigned to the ith atom, which constitute a point in the Property P(k) space. Chirality measures are described as the distance between a molecule and its mirror image minimized over all its arbitrary orientation-preserving isometries in the R(3) × P(k) Cartesian product space. Following this formalism, different chirality measures can be estimated by taking into consideration different sets of atomic properties. Here, for α-amino acid zwitterionic structures taken from the Cambridge Structural Database and for all 1684 neutral conformers of 19 biogenic α-amino acid molecules, except glycine and cystine, found at the B3LYP/6-31G** level, chirality measures have been calculated by a CHIMEA program written in this project. It is demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between the measures determined for the α-amino acid zwitterions in crystals and the neutral forms in the gas phase. Performance of the studied chirality measures with changes of the basis set and computation method was also checked. An exemplary quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) application of the chirality measures was presented by an introductory model for the benchmark Cramer data set of steroidal ligands of the sex-hormone binding globulin.     

Permanganate oxidation of α-amino acids: kinetic correlations for the nonautocatalytic and autocatalytic reaction pathways

The reactions of permanganate ion with seven α-amino acids in aqueous KH(2)PO(4)/K(2)HPO(4) buffers have been followed spectrophotometrically at two different wavelengths: 526 nm (decay of MnO(4)(-)) and 418 nm (formation of colloidal MnO(2)). All of the reactions studied were autocatalyzed by colloidal MnO(2), with the contribution of the autocatalytic reaction pathway decreasing in the order glycine > l-threonine > l-alanine > l-glutamic acid > l-leucine > l-isoleucine > l-valine. The rate constants corresponding to the nonautocatalytic and autocatalytic pathways were obtained by means of either a differential rate law or an integrated one, the latter requiring the use of an iterative method for its implementation. The activation parameters for the two pathways were determined and analyzed to obtain statistically significant correlations for the series of reactions studied. The activation enthalpy of the nonautocatalytic pathway showed a strong, positive dependence on the standard Gibbs energy for the dissociation of the protonated amino group of the α-amino acid. Linear enthalpy-entropy correlations were found for both pathways, leading to isokinetic temperatures of 370 ± 21 K (nonautocatalytic) and 364 ± 28 K (autocatalytic). Mechanisms in agreement with the experimental data are proposed for the two reaction pathways.     

The preparation and alkylation of a butanedione-derived chiral glycine equivalent and its use for the synthesis of α-amino acids and α,α-disubstituted amino acids

A benzyloxycarbonyl protected glycine equivalent 2 has been prepared in enantiopure form and has been used in the synthesis of both α-substituted amino acids and α,α-disubstituted amino acids. The process involved deprotonation to form the corresponding enolates which underwent stereoselective alkylation with various electrophiles and upon hydrolysis gave the corresponding amino acid derivatives as enantiomerically pure products.     

Conformational studies on peptides containing α,α-disubstituted α-amino acids: chiral cyclic α,α-disubstituted α-amino acid as an α-helical inducer

Four types of α,α-disubstituted amino acids {i.e., α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib), 1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid (Ac(5)c), (3S,4S)-1-amino-(3,4-dimethoxy)cyclopentanecarboxylic acid [(S,S)-Ac(5)c(dOM)] and its enantiomer (R,R)-Ac(5)c(dOM)} were introduced into l-leucine-based hexapeptides and nonapeptides. The dominant conformations of eight peptides: Cbz-(L-Leu-L-Leu-dAA)(2)-OMe [dAA = 1: Aib; 2: Ac(5)c; 3: (S,S)-Ac(5)c(dOM); 4: (R,R)-Ac(5)c(dOM)] and Boc-(L-Leu-L-Leu-dAA)(3)-OMe [dAA = 5: Aib; 6: Ac(5)c; 7: (S,S)-Ac(5)c(dOM); 8: (R,R)-Ac(5)c(dOM)], were investigated by IR, CD spectra and X-ray crystallographic analysis. The CD spectra revealed that Aib hexapeptide 1 and Ac(5)c hexapeptide 2 formed right-handed (P) 3(10)-helices, while Ac(5)c(dOM) hexapeptides 3 and 4 formed a mixture of (P) 3(10)- and α-helices. The Aib nonapeptide 5 formed a (P) 3(10)-helix, the Ac(5)c nonapeptide 6 formed a mixture of (P) 3(10)- and α-helices, and the Ac(5)c(dOM) nonapeptides 7 and 8 formed (P) α-helices. X-Ray crystallographic analysis revealed that the Aib hexapeptide 1 formed a (P) 3(10)-helix, while (S,S)-Ac(5)c(dOM) hexapeptide 3 formed a (P) α-helix. In addition, the Ac(5)c nonapeptide 6 and (R,R)-Ac(5)c(dOM) nonapeptide 8 formed (P) α-helices. The Aib and achiral Ac(5)c residues have the propensity to form 3(10)-helices in short peptides, whereas the chiral Ac(5)c(dOM) residues have a penchant for forming α-helices.     

Some α-amino acids containing trifluoromethyl groups

Summary Ethanolamine was added to , -ditrifluoromethylacrylic ester and hexafluorovaline ester was hydroxyethylated. Both reactions yielded the ester of N-(-hydroxyethyl)-hexafluorovaline, which could be used as the starting material for the synthesis of physiologically active substances.     

Enantiopure synthesis of side chain-modified α-amino acids and 5-cis-alkylprolines

A short, concise synthesis of enantiopure, side chain-modified α-amino acids such as 4-oxo-L-norvaline, 6-oxo-L-homonorleucine, and 5-cis-alkyl prolines is described. Knoevenagel condensation of l-aminocarboxylate-derived β-ketoesters with aldehydes followed by reductive decarboxylation results in unnatural α-amino acids in good yield. A fluorescent amino acid is synthesized using a similar protocol. These studies show that aminocarboxylate-derived β-ketoesters are very useful intermediates and the method employed is both general and practical for the preparation of γ(δ)-oxo α-amino acids and alkylprolines.     

Facile synthesis of α-hydroxy carboxylic acids from the corresponding α-amino acids

An effective and improved procedure is developed for the synthesis of α-hydroxy carboxylic acids by treatment of the corresponding protonated α-amino acid with tert-butyl nitrite in 1,4-dioxane–water. The amino moiety must be protonated and located α to a carboxylic acid function in order to undergo initial diazotization and successive hydroxylation, since neither β-amino acids nor acid derivatives such as esters and amides undergo hydroxylations. The method is successfully applied for the synthesis of 18 proteinogenic amino acids.     

A novel approach to the synthesis of optically pure non protein α-amino acids in both L and D configurations from L-serine

Efficient syntheses of (2R)-2-Boc-amino-3-phenylsulfonyl-l-propanol 3 and its enantiomer 9 from L-serine are described. The potential of these compounds in a novel general method for the synthesis of optically pure non protein α-amino acids in both the L and D configurations is exemplified by the preparation of N-Boc-L-and D-homophenylalanine, -norvaline and -norleucine.