Asymmetric routes to pentadec-1-en-4-ol: application to the syntheses of aculeatins F and epi-F, (R)- and (S)-5-hexadecanolide and a formal synthesis of solenopsin

A short and simple route to the synthesis of pentadec-1-en-4-ol, an important synthetic building block for the aculeatins F and epi-F, insect pheromone 5-hexadecanolide, solenopsin and various other natural products has been developed via proline-catalyzed α-aminoxylation of an aldehyde and hydrolytic kinetic resolution of a terminal epoxide. While the synthesis of aculeatins F and epi-F has been accomplished using a PIFA promoted oxidative spirocyclization/dithiane deprotection reaction sequence and linchpin coupling as key steps, the synthesis of hexadecanolide and a formal synthesis of solenopsin was performed using ring-closing metathesis (RCM) as key step.     

Solid-phase synthesis of dihydrovirginiamycin S1, a streptogramin B antibiotic

We describe the first solid-phase synthesis of dihydrovirginiamycin S(1), a member of the streptogramin B family of antibiotics, which are nonribosomal-peptide natural products produced by Streptomyces. These compounds, along with the synergistic group A components, are "last line of defense" antimicrobial agents for the treatment of life-threatening infections such as vancomycin-resistant enterococci. The synthesis features an on-resin cyclization and is designed to allow production of streptogramin B analogues with diversification at positions 1', 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Several synthetic challenges known to hinder the synthesis of this class of compounds were solved, including sensitivity to acids and bases, and epimerization and rearrangements, through the judicious choice of deprotection conditions, coupling conditions, and synthetic strategy. This work should enable a better understanding of structure-activity relationships in the streptogramin B compounds, possible identification of analogues that bypass known resistance mechanisms, and perhaps the identification of analogues with novel biological activities.     

A Reliable Enantioselective Route to Mono-Protected N1-Cbz Piperazic Acid Building Block

The chiral N1-Cbz, N2-H derivative of the piperazic acid monomer is a valuable building block in the total synthesis of natural products, comprising this nonproteinogenic amino acid. In that context, we wish to report an improved synthetic protocol for the synthesis of both (3R)- and (3S)-piperazic acids bearing the carboxybenzyl protecting group (Cbz) selectively at the N1 position. Our method builds on previously reported protocols, circumventing their potential shortcomings, and optimizing the ultimate selective deprotection at the N2 position, thus, offering an efficient and reproducible pathway to suitably modified piperazates in high optical purity.     

天然产物生物合成:探索大自然合成次生代谢产物的奥秘

天然产物(次生代谢产物)是大自然馈赠给人类的礼物,由于其复杂的骨架结构和良好的药用价值,吸引着化学家们对其进行结构鉴定以及化学合成。尽管人们在天然产物全合成中取得了巨大的成就,但仍然面临着合成路线长、产率低、缺乏选择性等问题。大自然是最伟大的化学家,它利用酶作为催化剂,往往能够高效地合成天然产物。在基因水平上探索大自然合成复杂多样的天然产物的奥秘不仅有助于人们进一步理解和认知有机化学,还为人们开发和利用大自然高效催化化学反应的工具——酶奠定了基础。     

Emerging Strategies for the Total Synthesis of Inorganic Nanostructures

New synthetic innovations are rapidly being developed to address the demand for complex, next‐generation nanomaterials with rigorously controlled architectures and interfaces. This Review highlights key strategies for the chemical transformation and stepwise synthesis of multicomponent inorganic nanostructures, with the existing nanoscale transformations categorized into classes of reactions that are related to those used in the synthesis of organic molecules. The application of concepts used in molecular synthesis—including site‐selectivity, regio‐ and chemoselectivity, orthogonal reactivity, coupling reactions, protection/deprotection strategies, and procedures for separation and purification—to nanoscale systems is emphasized. Collectively, the resulting synthetic concept represents an emerging model for the synthesis of complex inorganic nanostructures on the basis of the guiding principles that underpin the multistep total synthesis of complex organic molecules and natural products.     

Total syntheses of colchicine in comparison: a journey through 50 years of synthetic organic chemistry

Colchicine, the major alkaloid of the meadow saffron, is one of the most prominent natural products and, like other tubulin-binding natural products (e.g. taxol and the epothilones), exhibits great pharmaceutical potential. The first syntheses in the late 1950s were milestones in natural product synthesis. But even today this structurally supposedly simple molecule poses a challenge to synthetic chemists. Only in the last years have syntheses been developed that are efficient enough to provide novel structurally modified colchicine analogues. The comparative examination of all known colchicine total syntheses undertaken in this Review not only reveals the tremendous progress in synthetic organic methodology over the past decades, but also shows how the unique synthetic problems posed by this molecule can be solved in an exceptionally creative manner. Only a few target molecules have been synthesized in such multifaceted ways.     

Natural Product Synthesis at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology

Nature has evolved to produce unique and diverse natural products that possess high target affinity and specificity. Natural products have been the richest sources for novel modulators of biomolecular function. Since the chemical synthesis of urea by Wöhler, organic chemists have been intrigued by natural products, leading to the evolution of the field of natural product synthesis over the past two centuries. Natural product synthesis has enabled natural products to play an essential role in drug discovery and chemical biology. With the introduction of novel, innovative concepts and strategies for synthetic efficiency, natural product synthesis in the 21st century is well poised to address the challenges and complexities faced by natural product chemistry and will remain essential to progress in biomedical sciences.     

"Common synthetic scaffolds" in the synthesis of structurally diverse natural products

Selected natural products have long been considered as desirable targets for total synthesis due to their unique biological properties and their challenging structural complexity. Laboratory synthesis of natural compounds usually relies on target-oriented synthesis, involving the production, isolation and purification of successive intermediates, requiring multiple steps to arrive to the final product. A far more economical approach using common synthetic scaffolds that can be readily transformed through biomimetic-like pathways to a range of structurally diverse natural products has been evolved in the last decade, leading synthesis to new directions. This tutorial review critically presents the hallmarks in this field.     

α‐Amino Acid‐Isosteric α‐Amino Tetrazoles

The synthesis of all 20 common natural proteinogenic and 4 otherα‐amino acid‐isosteric α‐amino tetrazoles has been accomplished, whereby the carboxyl group is replaced by the isosteric 5‐tetrazolyl group. The short process involves the use of the key Ugi tetrazole reaction followed by deprotection chemistries. The tetrazole group is bioisosteric to the carboxylic acid and is widely used in medicinal chemistry and drug design. Surprisingly, several of the common α‐amino acid‐isosteric α‐amino tetrazoles are unknown up to now. Therefore a rapid synthetic access to this compound class and non‐natural derivatives is of high interest to advance the field.     

Deconstructive Reorganization: De Novo Synthesis of Hydroxylated Benzofuran

An unprecedented deconstructive reorganization strategy for the de novo synthesis of hydroxylated benzofurans from kojic acid‐ or maltol‐derived alkynes is reported. In this reaction, both the benzene and furan rings were simultaneously constructed, whereas the pyrone moiety of the kojic acid or maltol was deconstructed and then reorganized into the benzene ring as a six‐carbon component. Through this strategy, at least one free hydroxyl group was introduced into the benzene ring in a substitution‐pattern tunable fashion without protection–deprotection and redox adjustment. With this method, a large number of hydroxylated benzofuran derivatives with different substitution‐patterns have been prepared efficiently. This methodology has also been shown as the key step in a collective total synthesis of hydroxylated benzofuran‐containing natural products (11 examples).     

Investigation,optimization and synthesis of sulfamoyloxy-linked aminoacyl-AMP analogues

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) constitute a family of enzymes that transfer amino acids to their corresponding tRNA molecules to form aminoacyl-tRNAs and have been validated as potential drug targets. Sulfamoyloxy-linked aminoacyl-AMP analogues are potent inhibitors of aaRSs. In this article, we report the synthesis of several new sulfamoyl analogues of aa-AMP that up to now have been difficult or even impossible to prepare with current synthetic strategies. The developed synthetic strategy relies on performing the synthesis under neutral conditions followed by global deprotection using catalytic hydrogenation affording the desired 5′-O-(N-aminoacyl)sulfamoyladenosine compounds.     

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Three Unique Helicobacter pylori α‐Cholesteryl Phosphatidyl Glucosides

Steryl glycosides produced by bacteria play important biological roles in the evasion and modulation of host immunity. Step‐economical syntheses of three cholesteryl‐6‐O‐phosphatidyl‐α‐D ‐glucopyranosides (αCPG) unique to Helicobacter pylori have been achieved. The approach relies upon regioselective deprotection of per‐O‐trimethylsilyl‐α‐D ‐cholesterylglucoside at C6 followed by phosphoramidite coupling. Global TMS ether deprotection in the presence of oxygen and subsequent deprotection of the cyano ethyl phosphoester afforded the target compounds in 16–21 % overall yield starting from D ‐glucose. The structures of these natural products were determined using a combination of 2D NMR methods and mass spectrometry. These robust synthesis and characterization protocols provide analogues to facilitate glycolipidomic profiling and biological studies.     

Heck Diversification of Indole-Based Substrates under Aqueous Conditions: From Indoles to Unprotected Halo-tryptophans and Halo-tryptophans in Natural Product Derivatives

The blending of synthetic chemistry with biosynthetic processes provides a powerful approach to synthesis. Biosynthetic halogenation and synthetic cross-coupling have great potential to be used together, for small molecule generation, access to natural product analogues and as a tool for chemical biology. However, to enable enhanced generality of this approach, further synthetic tools are needed. Though considerable research has been invested in the diversification of phenylalanine and tyrosine, functionalisation of tryptophans thorough cross-coupling has been largely neglected. Tryptophan is a key residue in many biologically active natural products and peptides; in proteins it is key to fluorescence and dominates protein folding. To this end, we have explored the Heck cross-coupling of halo-indoles and halo-tryptophans in water, showing broad reaction scope. We have demonstrated the ability to use this methodology in the functionalisation of a brominated antibiotic (bromo-pacidamycin), as well as a marine sponge metabolite, barettin.     

Marinopyrrole A衍生物合成方法的优化

以双醛化合物1为原料, 通过取代基保护、 分步加成、 氧化、 脱Ts(对甲苯磺酰基)、 氯代和脱甲基等反应, 以9步反应13%的总收率合成了苯环6位含氟取代的Marinopyrrole A衍生物12, 所合成化合物的结构经IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR和HRMS分析确证. 分步加成和氧化的应用有效避免了原合成方法中环醚中间体3的生成, 提高了反应总收率, 为系列Marinopyrrole A 衍生物的合成提供了一种新方法.     

Recent advances in the synthesis of new glycopeptide antibiotics

The vancomycin family of glycopeptide antibiotics has been inspiring research in the field of synthetic chemistry since the 1980s. Recent studies have moved away from the focus of total synthesis into new territory: the design and evaluation of novel compounds based on the natural products which exhibit improved antibacterial activity. Modern approaches to drug synthesis draw together investigations into the nature of the binding environment, and innovative synthetic methodologies which provide solutions to the challenging structural features and stereochemistry associated with this intriguing class of compounds. New analogues, derivatives and dimers of the natural products, as well as recent successes in the total synthesis of the complestatins are described in this tutorial review, covering literature from the last decade.     

Stereoselective synthesis of farnesylphosphoryl β-d-arabinofuranose

Decaprenylphosphoryl β-d-arabinofuranose (DPA) is a key arabinose donor in mycobacteria. In an effort to establish a practical synthetic scheme for DPA, the synthesis of nerylphosphoryl and farnesylphosphoryl β-d-arabinofuranoses has been developed. The products were obtained by coupling of a suitably protected β-d-arabinofuranosyl phosphate intermediate with activated forms of the C₁₀ nerol and C₁₅trans,trans-farnesol and subsequent deprotection.     

Stereoselective Synthesis of 2,3,4,6-Tetrasubstituted Tetrahydropyrans

The construction of stereodefined, highly substituted tetrahydropyrans has attracted a lot of interest over the years since they constitute ubiquitous fragments of numerous biologically active natural products.[1] During the course of our synthetic studies toward ambruticin, a fascinating antibiotic[2] which came back in the front scene with three recent total synthesis, [3] we have been interested in the synthesis of 2,3,4,6-tetrasubstituted tetrahydropyrans 5 (Scheme 1). [4] Moreover, this kind of subunit is found to be embedded in several other natural products such as lasonolide A, polycavernoside A, ratjadone, or concanamycin A.     

Synthesis of the cyclic heptapeptide axinellin A

The first synthesis of the naturally occurring cyclic peptide axinellin A has been achieved. Cyclization and subsequent deprotection of linear precursors containing either a t-butyl protected Thr residue or a Thr(Ψ^Me,Mepro) derivative gave a cyclic peptide, identical in all respects to the naturally occurring material, with the exception that the synthetic peptide does not exhibit the cytotoxic activity reported for the natural product.     

Multigram synthesis of the C29-C51 subunit and completion of the total synthesis of altohyrtin C (spongistatin 2)

A multigram synthesis of the C29-C51 subunit of altohyrtin C (spongistatin 2) has been accomplished. Union of this intermediate with the C1-C28 fragment and further elaboration furnished the natural product. Completion of the C29-C51 subunit began with the aldol coupling of the boron enolate derived from methyl ketone 8 and aldehyde 9. Acid-catalyzed deprotection/cyclization of the resulting diastereomeric mixture of addition products was conducted in a single operation to afford the E-ring of altohyrtin C. The diastereomer obtained through cyclization of the unwanted aldol product was subjected to an oxidation/reduction sequence to rectify the C35 stereocenter. The C45-C48 segment of the eventual triene side chain was introduced by addition of a functionalized Grignard reagent derived from (R)-glycidol to a C44 aldehyde. Palladium-mediated deoxygenation of the resulting allylic alcohol was followed by adjustment of protecting groups to provide reactivity suitable for the later stages of the synthesis. The diene functionality comprising the remainder of the C44-C51 side chain was constructed by addition of an allylzinc reagent to the unmasked C48 aldehyde and subsequent dehydration of the resulting alcohol. Completion of the synthesis of the C29-C51 subunit was achieved through conversion of the protected C29 alcohol into a primary iodide. The synthesis of the C29-C51 iodide required 44 steps with a longest linear sequence of 33 steps. From commercially available tri-O-acetyl-d-glucal, the overall yield was 6.8%, and 2 g of the iodide was prepared. The C29-C51 primary iodide was amenable to phosphonium salt formation, and the ensuing Wittig coupling with a C1-C28 intermediate provided a fully functionalized, protected seco-acid. Selective deprotection of the required silicon groups afforded an intermediate appropriate for macrolactonization, and, finally, global deprotection furnished altohyrtin C (spongistatin 2). This synthetic approach required 113 steps with a longest linear sequence of 37 steps starting from either tri-O-acetyl-d-glucal or (S)-malic acid.     

Studies toward the total synthesis of cyclodidemniserinol trisulfate. Part II: 3,5,7-Trisubstituted 6,8-dioxabicyclo [3.2.1] octane core structure construction via I2-mediated deprotection and ring closure tandem reaction

The 3,5,7-trisubstituted 6,8-dioxabicyclo [3.2.1] octane core structure was synthesized by employing a chiral pool convergent synthesis strategy and the I₂-mediated simultaneous deprotection and ring closure reaction as the key step, providing a practical and efficient synthetic approach applicable to the further total synthesis of the natural product cyclodidemniserinol trisulfate.