Design and synthesis of triazole-based peptide dendrimers

A series of novel designer dendrimers (8, 9, 11, 13 and 16) was synthesized by employing click chemistry. The dendritic structures reported here include symmetrical, unsymmetrical and cationic dendrimers with a variety of cores such as triazole, cystine and Lys-Asp dipeptide.     

Synthesis and photoresponsive study of azobenzene centered polyamidoamine dendrimers

A new series of novel polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers 4, 5 and 6 possessing azobenzene units specifically at the core were prepared and their reversible trans/cis photoisomerization properties were studied. PAMAM dendritic wedges as well as azo-based PAMAM dendrimers were fully characterized by means of FT-IR, NMR (¹H and ¹³C), mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), thermogravimetric and elemental analysis.     

Carbosilane dendrimers containing complexes N,N′-pyridylimine of molybdenum and platinum at their periphery

Pyridylimine ligands of general formula CS-{O-4-(2,5-C₆H₂R₂)-NCH-2-Py}_n, where CS is a trimethylsilyl group (n = 1, R = H, Ia or Me, Ib) or a carbosilane dendritic framework (IIa,b, n = 4; IIIa, n = 8), have been coordinated to platinum(II) and molybdenum(0) centers to give the mononuclear [(Ia,b){PtCl₂}], tetranuclear [(IIb){PtCl₂}₄] and [(IIa){Mo(CO)₃(MeCN)}₄], and octanuclear [(IIIa){Mo(CO)₃(MeCN)}₈] complexes. The poor solubility of the polymetallic platinum compounds impedes the preparation of higher-generation dendrimers, although such a limitation is not found in the case of the more soluble molybdenum dendrimers.     

l-Proline induced self-assembly of indolicidin derived palindromic tripeptide

We describe the synthesis, crystal structure, and various microscopic studies of the palindromic tripeptide WPW derived from antimicrobial peptide indolicidin. The present study reveals that tripeptide 1 and 2 undergo self-assembly to form vesicular structures after prolonged incubation, thus giving an interesting insight into the contribution of l-proline and flanking tryptophan residues in the self-assembly process. These vesicles were also amenable to simple focused ion beam (FIB)-aided bisection and thus possible to mill these vesicles to create different shapes. The circular dichroism (CD) analysis indicates that incubation promotes and stabilizes the more favorable secondary structures for 1 and 2. Preliminary result shows that tripeptide 1 exhibits appreciable interaction with Tb³⁺ as determined by quenching in tryptophan fluorescence.     

Studies of β-turn opening with model peptides containing non-coded α-amino isobutyric acid

Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies show that among the three terminally protected model tripeptides I-III, Boc-Ile-Aib-Xx-OMe (Xx in peptide I: Val; II: Leu; III: Phe) with a centrally placed non-coded amino acid Aib (Aib: α-amino isobutyric acid), peptide I displays a conformational preference for β-turn, peptide II forms a hydrated β-turn representing the solvent mediated intermediate for the interconversion between β-turn and β-strand and peptide III adopts a completely unfolded β-strand like structure. By varying the steric bulk of the third residue, Xx(3), various conformations related to the structural interconversion between the β-turn and β-strand have been isolated. The peptide conformations in the solution phase have been probed by solvent dependent NMR titration and CD spectroscopy. Morphological studies with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveal that among the three peptides only peptide III can form filamentous fibrils in the solid state.     

New derivatives of trifluoroacetyl acetaldehyde and trifluoroaldol

The reaction of β-ethoxyvinyl trifluoromethyl ketone 1 with O-nucleophiles such as alcohols and diols leads to various derivatives of trifluoroacetyl acetaldehyde, such as β-alkoxyvinyl trifluoromethyl ketones 3 and cyclic keto acetals 4. Several derivatives synthesized contain chiral auxiliaries. Reduction of the compounds 1, 3, 4 under various reaction conditions leads to the trifluoroaldol derivatives 6, 7, 9, 10 containing a protected aldehyde group. The compounds obtained are useful building blocks in fluoroorganic synthesis.     

Au(III)-catalyzed regio- and stereoselective tandem synthesis of oxazolo fused naphthyridines and isoquinolines from o-alkynylaldehydes

An efficient tandem approach for the regio- and stereoselective synthesis of oxazolo-fused naphthyridines 3a–g, 3i–l and isoquinolines 3h, 3m via the reaction of o-alkynylaldehydes 1a–i with chiral amino alcohols 2a–c under mild reaction conditions is described. The stereochemistry and structures of the products were assigned via NOESY and X-ray crystallographic studies.     

Functionalization of C60 via organometallic reagents

The reaction of [60]fullerene with organolithium and Grignard reagents carrying orthoester, acetal or other end groups yielded adducts 3-5 at the 6-6 bond of C60 after quenching with trifluoroacetic acid. The adducts could be easily methylated or benzylated with methyl iodide or benzyl bromide in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide to yield exclusively the 1,4-disubstituted C60 6 and 7a,b. Cleavage of the orthoester, acetal and silylether groups gave the corresponding carboxylic acid 9, aldehydes 10a,b and 11 and alcohols 12 and 13a,b. The carboxylic acid 9 readily reacted with alanine ethyl ester under standard peptide coupling conditions to give 14 in 55% yield. Attempts to generate a silyl enol ether from the reaction of aldehyde 10b with TIPSOTf and triethylamine failed. Instead the reaction led to a cyclized ether 16a (or alcohol 16b in the absence of silylating agent) resulting from the addition of an initially formed fulleride anion to the aldehyde group. The corresponding acetal 4b reacted similarly. The reaction of aldehyde 10b with aniline also gave a cyclized product 19. Surprisingly, aldehyde 11, which no longer carried an acidic fullerene proton reacted with aniline to give a product 20 resulting from an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction followed by aromatization of a primarily formed N-phenylimine. Alcohol 13b could be readily converted to the corresponding bromide using tetramethyl-α-bromoenamine. The bromide was reacted with the carbanion derived from the protected glycine derivative to yield the diastereomeric fullerene amino acid derivatives 1-benzyl-4-[α-propyl-tert-butylglycinate benzophenone imine] 1,4-dihydro[60]fullerenes 24a and 24b.     

Structures of enzymatic oxidation products of epigallocatechin

To understand the structures of uncharacterized black tea polyphenols, the oxidation products of (−)-epigallocatechin were investigated. Enzymatic oxidation and subsequent heating of the reaction mixture afforded four new oxidation products (6, and 9–11) along with theasinensins C (4) and E (5), dehydrotheasinensin E (12), epitheaflagallin, hydroxytheaflavin, and desgalloyl oolongtheanin. The structures of the new compounds were determined chemically and spectroscopically. Isotheasinensin E (6) is a C-2 epimer of 5, and compounds 9 and 10 are oxidation products of 12. Another new compound, 11, is a yellow pigment and presumed to be a degradation product of proepitheaflagallin. The results disclosed new oxidation mechanisms that occur during black tea production.     

Dendritic BINOL ligands for asymmetric catalysis: effect of the linking positions and generations of the dendritic wedges on catalyst properties

Three types of new chiral BINOL ligands (2, 3 and 4) bearing dendritic wedges have been synthesized through coupling reaction between 3-hydroxymethyl-2,2′-bis(methoxymethyl)-1,1′-binaphthol (7), 6,6′-dihydroxymethyl-2,2′-bis(methoxymethyl)-1,1′-binaphthol (12), 6-hydroxymethyl-2,2′-bis(methoxymethyl)-1,1′-binaphthol (15) and Fréchet-type polyether dendritic benzyl bromide, followed by deprotection of methoxymethyl groups by ⁱPrOH/HCl, respectively. These new ligands obtained were assessed in enantioselective Lewis acid-catalyzed addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde. Compared to the enantioselectivity observed with dendrimer 1 bearing the dendritic wedges at 3,3′-positions of the binaphthyl backbone, higher enantioselectivity for all these ligands was observed. Difference in the effect of linking positions and generations on enantioselectivity and/or activity for all three kinds of dendritic ligand-derived catalysts was observed. Among these dendritic ligands, (R)-3/Ti(IV) catalyst with the dendritic wedges at 6,6′-positions of BINOL gave the highest enantioselectivity (up to 87% ee).     

Controlling self-assembly of zinc(II)-benzoate coordination complexes with 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane by varying solvent and ligand-to-metal ratio: Their catalytic activities

Four new coordination polymers formed by zinc-benzoate with the 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpe) bridging ligand have been prepared and characterized. Zinc-benzoates can be rationally tuned to form four different structures with a bridging bpe ligand by controlling ligand-to-zinc-benzoate molar ratios and by using different solvent systems, and reveal three coordination polymers having similar one-dimensional characteristics but having different mono-, di-, trinuclear nodes (1–3), and a dinuclear ring type molecule (4). This work reveals that the ligand-to-metal ratio and solvent play very important roles in the formation of different coordination structures. We have also shown that the compounds 1–4 catalyzed efficiently the transesterification of a variety of esters. The complex 3 showed the most efficient reactivity and is the best among the catalytic efficiencies reported previously with zinc-containing coordination and polymeric compounds. The substrates with the electron-withdrawing substituents have undergone faster transesterification than those with the electron-donating ones. In addition, the scope of the application of 1–4 as transesterification catalysts has been expanded to now include ethanol and propanol, suggesting that this catalytic system can be potentially useful for preparing various esters by transesterification. Moreover, the transesterification reaction mechanism was discussed by ¹H NMR study.     

Study on the reactions of ethyl 4,4,4-trifluoro-3-oxobutanoate with arylidenemalononitriles

In the presence of a catalytic amount of NEt₃, ethyl 4,4,4-trifluoro-3-oxobutanoate 1 reacted readily with arylidenemalononitriles 2 in ethanol at room temperature. It gave two products 2-trifluoromethyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran derivatives 3 and 2-(trifluoromethyl)piperidine derivatives 4, the ratio of 3 and 4 was depended on the substrates 2 and reaction solvents. Reflux of the ethanol solution of 4 with a catalytic amount of NEt₃ afforded 2-trifluoromethyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridine derivatives 5 in moderate to good yields. The structures of new compounds 3, 4 and 5 were determined by spectral methods, microanalysis and X-ray diffraction analysis. A possible reaction mechanism for the formation of 3, 4 and 5 was presented.     

Novel tocopherol derivatives. Part 32: On the bromination of pyrano[3,2-f]chromenes related to γ-tocopherol

While bromination of γ-tocopherol (2) with elemental bromine affords 5-bromo-γ-tocopherol quantitatively (3), the analogous reaction of its truncated model compound, 2,2,7,8-tetramethylchromanol (2a) is known to be accompanied by side reactions and to produce hitherto unknown byproducts. These compounds originate from pyrano[3,2-f]chromene (6), a byproduct in the synthesis of model compound 2a, which affords bromochromene 7 as the major product. The reaction mechanism was shown to proceed via chromene 8 and its 1,2-dibromo addition compound 9, which eliminates HBr in an E1 process to finally afford 7. Analytical data including crystal structures of both 6 and 7 are reported.     

New microviridins from a water bloom of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa

Three new microviridins namely, SD1684 (1), SD1634 (2), and SD1652 (3), were isolated from the hydrophilic extract of Microcystis aeruginosa. The planar structures of compounds 1-3 were determined by homonuclear and inverse-heteronuclear 2D-NMR techniques as well as by high-resolution mass spectrometry. The absolute configuration of the asymmetric centers was studied using Marfey's method for HPLC. Compounds 1-3 contain l-threo-β-hydroxy aspartic acid as a building block of the peptide chain. This is the first example where microviridins contain non-proteinogenic amino acid in their structure. Compound 2 is a mild serine protease inhibitor.     

On the reactivity of some 2-methyleneindolines with β-nitroenamines, α-nitroalkenes, and 1,2-diaza-1,3-butadienes

A study of the behaviour of some electron-rich 2-methyleneindolines (1-3) with different electron-poor reagents (formation of new carbon-carbon and nitrogen-carbon bonds) has furnished interesting results from both synthetic and the mechanistic viewpoints. Enamines 1-3 have been reacted with the β-nitroenamines 4-7 (reaction CeCl₃·7H₂O promoted), giving the polymethine dyes 14-23. The same bases 1-3 have been nitroalkylated with the nitroolefins 8-10, furnishing the indolines 24-32, and the diastereoselectivity of the reaction has been thoroughly investigated. The most unexpected results derived from the first example of reaction of Fischer's bases with 1,2-diaza-1,3-butadienes. In fact, with 11-13, the ‘unknown’ indoline spirodihydropyrroles 33-40 were formed. Their structures were unambiguously assigned, and we determined, as an example, that of 33 by X-ray analysis.     

Derivation of saddle shaped cyclooctatetrathiophene: increasing conjugation and fabricating pentamer

With cyclooctatetrathiophene (COTh) as building block, two α,α,α,α-tetraaryl COThs, COThP and COThTh have been efficiently synthesized. Phenyl and thienyl were employed as end-capping groups to introduce to COTh and increase its conjugation. For enlarging the special ‘saddle’ shaped structure, a pentamer of COTh was synthesized via Negishi reaction and CuCl₂-promoted oxidative coupling reaction. The pentamer (COThF) is a new type of dendrimer with COTh as dendron, which presents an artistic configuration possessing a large saddle shape. All compounds were fully characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HRMS and IR. The crystal structures of COThP and COThTh were confirmed by X-ray analysis. The molecular configuration of COThF was optimized by theoretical calculations. Their UV–vis properties, electrochemical behaviours and thermo-gravimetric analysis of COThP, COThTh and COThF were also described.     

Synthesis and structure of 8-hydroxy-6-methoxy-3,7-dimethylisochromane and its analogues

The title compound 1 was obtained by the reaction of alcohol 18 and triethyl orthoformate catalyzed by aluminum chloride followed by catalytic hydrogenation in good yield. Similarly, compounds 1 and 3 were obtained by intramolecular cyclization of MOM ether 19 with titanium(IV) chloride in moderate yields and isochromanes 1, 3, 26 and 27 by intramolecular cyclization of ether 20 with titanium(IV) chloride in high yields. The structures of compounds 1-3 were elucidated by analysis of spectroscopic data and chemical reactions. The mechanisms on the formation of 1 and 3 are discussed.     

Stereoselective cycloaddition of 1-glucosyl-1,3-butadienes with tert-butyl 2H-azirine-3-carboxylate, glyoxylates and imines

Glucosyl dienes 1 have been reacted with the achiral 2H-azirine 4 and with glyoxylates, forming fused structures of type 5 and disaccharide-like compounds 7 with good to excellent selectivity. Glucosyl dienes 1 participated as dienophiles in reactions with Schiff bases derived from anilines forming isoquinolines 10 and 11. The diastereoselectivity of this reaction is poor.     

Three-component synthesis of 2-imino-1,4-benzoxazines

A series of 2-imino-1,4-benzoxazines (8a-e) were prepared by the one-pot, three-component, condensation of salicylaldehyde (4), various ortho-aminophenols (5), and 2,6-dimethylphenylisonitrile (6). The structures of four of the crystalline benzoxazine derivatives (8b-e) were unambiguously established by X-ray analysis.     

Turn conformations in a metallacyclictripeptide and a metallacyclictetrapeptide induced by tungsten-alkyne coordination

Tungsten-alkyne coordination was employed for the preparation of a metallacyclictripeptide and a metallacyclictetrapeptide. First, the dialkynyltripeptide 7 and the dialkynyltetrapeptide 9 were prepared using solution phase peptide synthesis. In both 7 and 9 the two alkynes were attached to the peptide at the N- and C-termini. Reaction of 7 with W(CO)₃(dmtc)₂ yielded the metallacyclictripeptide 10, while reaction of 9 with W(CO)₃(dmtc)₂ yielded the metallacyclictetrapeptide 11. The identities of 10 and 11 were established using ¹H NMR spectroscopy and positive ion electrospray mass spectrometry. The ¹H NMR spectra of 10 and 11 show that these species exist as a complex mixture of isomers that differ in how the ligands are arranged around the tungsten center. Interconversion between these isomers is slow at 23 °C, but the rate of interconversion increases as the temperature is raised. With 10, all the alkyne hydrogen signals coalesce at 95 °C. However, with 11 the alkyne hydrogen signals do not fully coalesce, even at 105 °C. Related to this is the behavior of 10 and 11 during HPLC analysis; 10 elutes as a single peak, but 11 elutes as two overlapping peaks. The overlapping peaks and the high isomer interconversion temperature of 11 as compared to 10 are attributed to the presence of additional intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the two ends of the peptide in 11.