New building blocks for fluorinated imidazole derivatives: preparation of beta-fluoro- and beta,beta-difluorohistamine.

We demonstrate that "FBr" addition to 1-trityl-4-vinyl-1H-imidazole (7) provides a convenient route to side-chain-fluorinated histamines. Thus, addition of "FBr" to the double bond of 7 occurs with Markovnikov regioselectivity to produce 4-(2-bromo-1-fluoroethyl)-1-trityl-1H-imidazole (8). Substitution with azide, reduction, and removal of the trityl group provide beta-fluorohistamine (1) as the dihydrochloride. Elimination of HBr from 8 followed by a second addition of "FBr" gives 4-(2-bromo-1,1-difluoroethyl)-1-trityl-1H-imidazole (15). This was similarly converted to beta,beta-difluorohistamine (2) as the dihydrochloride.     

Glycosamino acids: building blocks for combinatorial synthesis-implications for drug discovery

The unique functions of carbohydrates, including energy storage, transport, modulation of protein function, intercellular adhesion, signal transduction, malignant transformation, and viral and bacterial cell-surface recognition, underlie a significant pharmaceutical potential. The development of combinatorial carbohydrate libraries in this important arena has been slow, in contrast to the rapid development of combinatorial synthesis in the area of small-molecule libraries and biopolymers. This is largely as a result of the inherent difficulties presented by this class of polyfunctional compounds. Nevertheless, strategies to cope with these problems have been devised over the past seven years, and combinatorial carbohydrate libraries have appeared. The incorporation of an amino acid moiety into the carbohydrate scaffold generates glycosamino acids, which are attractive building blocks for the preparation of carbohydrate-based libraries because of the well-established automated peptide synthesis. Derivatization as well as homo- and heterooligomerization of glycosamino acids can be used to create novel structures with unique properties. Glycosamino acids are hybrid structures of carbohydrates and amino acids which can be utilized to generate potential glycomimetics and peptidomimetics. The incorporation of glycosamino acids into peptides allows the engineering of carbohydrate-binding sites into synthetic polypeptides, which may also influence the pharmacokinetic and dynamic properties of the peptides. Furthermore, sugar-amino acid hybrids offer a tremendous structural and functional diversity, which is largely unexplored and requires combinatorial strategies for efficient exploitation. This article provides an overview of previous work on glycosamino acids and discusses their use in combinatorial synthesis and drug discovery. Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

New uses of amino acids as chiral building blocks in organic synthesis

[reaction: see text] N,N-Dibenzylamino aldehydes have emerged as a highly useful class of chiral building blocks in synthetic organic chemistry. We envisioned the transformation of the N,N -dibenzylamino aldehydes to the corresponding aldimines followed by diastereoselective methylene transfer with a sulfonium ylide to obtain alpha-amino aziridines in high yields.     

Synthesis of novel enantiopure fluorinated building blocks from acyclic chiral allylsilanes

[reaction: see text] Homochiral beta-fluorinated gamma,delta-unsaturated carboxylic acids with an allylic fluorinated stereogenic center are available from the corresponding enantiopure allylsilanes. The key step for introduction of the fluorine substituent is an electrophilic fluorodesilylation reaction carried out in the presence of Selectfluor. Reduction of the resulting beta-fluorinated pentenoic acid into the corresponding fluorinated alcohol was also performed leading to the formation of an enantiopure second-generation fluorinated building block.     

2-Amino-3,4-diethylpyrrole derivatives: new building blocks for coiled structures

The synthesis of a multicomponent, mixed oligomer containing alpha-aminopyrrole is described; this system adopts a coiled structure in the solid state and serves as a prototype of a possible new class of hydrogen bond based helicates.     

Trifluoromethyl- and difluoromethyl-β-lactams as useful building blocks for the synthesis of fluorinated amino acids, dipeptides, and fluoro-taxoids

Enantiopure 1-acyl-3-hydroxyl-4-CF₂H-azetidin-2-ones and 1-acyl-3-hydroxy-4-CF₃-azetidin-2-ones serve as versatile intermediates for the syntheses of CF₂- and CF₃-containing α-hydroxy-β-amino acids, dipeptides, and taxoid anticancer agents. Both enantiomers of 3-hydroxy-4-CF₂H-β-lactams can be obtained in high yields through the diethylaminosulfur trifluoride (DAST) reaction of the corresponding enantiopure 4-formyl-β-lactam that is prepared through [2+2] cycloaddition of acetoxyketene to a 3-methyl-2-butenaldimine, followed by enzymatic optical resolution and ozonolysis. (+)-3-Hydroxy-4-CF₃-β-lactams and (−)-3-hydroxy-4-CF₃-β-lactams can also be readily obtained in enantiopure form through [2+2] cycloaddition of a CF₃-imine with a ketene, followed by enzymatic optical resolution. Practical processes for the preparations of these enantiopure 3-hydroxy-4-R_f-β-lactams as well as their synthetic applications are described.     

A convenient preparation of taxoid right-half building blocks

Wieland–Miescher ketone derived unsaturated diols 4 reacted with Pb(OAc)₄ to furnish tricyclic enolether intermediate 6 which upon ozonolysis gave access to useful synthetic intermediates such as bicyclic lactone 7, methyl furanoside 8 and triol 9 (taxoid right-half precursors), depending on the solvent used during the ozonolysis and the nature of the following synthetic operation.     

Enaminones as building blocks in heterocyclic synthesis: New syntheses of nicotinic acid and thienopyridine derivatives

Reacting 1,3‐diphenyl‐propan‐2‐one with equimolecular amount of dimethylformamide dimethylacetal afforded the enaminone 4. This when reacted with another equimolecular amount of dimethylformamide dimethylacetal afforded the dienaminone 5. Compound 4 condenses with cyanothioacetamide and with cyanoacetamide to yield 2‐thioxo‐ and 2‐oxo‐pyridine‐3‐carbonitrile derivatives 6a,b respectively. Compound 6a reacted with α‐chloroacetone 8 to yield the thieno[2,3‐b]pyridine derivative 10 that cyclized further into 4,7,8‐trisubstituted pyrido[2′,3′:2,3] thieno[4,5‐d]pyrimidine 12. Compound 4 also afforded 2,5,6‐trisubstituted nicotinic acid ethyl ester 13 by reaction with ethyl acetoacetate in acetic acid in the presence of ammonium acetate. The dienaminone 5 reacted with acetic acid, ammonium acetate/acetic acid, phenylhydrazine and 5‐amino‐3‐methylpyrazole yielding 3,5‐diphenyl‐pyran‐4‐one 15a , 3,5‐diphenyl‐1H‐pyridin‐4‐one 15b and 1,3,5‐trisubstituted pyridin‐4‐ones 16a‐b.     

Synthesis of reactive cytidine derivatives as building blocks for cross-linking oligonucleotides

6-Vinylcytidine derivative (1) possessing good Michael acceptor properties has been synthesized through C-6 formylation and subsequent Wittig reaction. In view of introducing the reactive nucleoside into the oligonucleotide sequence, protection of the vinyl group as ethylthio derivative was proved to be effective for the masking and subsequent regeneration of the reactive vinyl moiety.     

Chiral building blocks: enantioselective syntheses of benzyloxymethyl phenyl propionic acids

The synthesis of (2S)-2-benzyloxymethyl-3-(2-fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)- propionic acid, (2S)-2-benzyloxymethyl-3-(2-fluoro-4-methylphenyl)propionic acid and (2S)-2-benzyl-oxymethyl-3-(2,4-dimethylphenyl)propionic acid has been achieved by TiCl4 mediated alkylation of the corresponding (4R)-4-benzyl-3-[3-(2-fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl-, 2-fluoro-4-methylphenyl-, 2,4- dimethylphenyl-)propionyl]-2-oxazolidinones, followed by hydrolysis of the chiral auxiliary. The stereochemistry of the alkylation reaction was confirmed by an X-ray crystal structure of (4R)-4-benzyl-3-[(2S)-2-benzyloxymethyl-3-(2- fluoro-4-methylphenyl)propionyl]-2-oxazolidinone.     

Enantiomerically enriched cyclopropene derivatives: versatile building blocks in asymmetric synthesis

Enantiomerically enriched cyclopropene derivatives, the smallest possible unsaturated carbocycles, are of great synthetic interest since they serve as versatile reactive building blocks. Their reactivity results from the relief of the ring strain in the small molecule. They can be transformed into a wide variety of complex chiral structures and a special emphasis will be directed towards the preparation of enantiomerically enriched methylene- and alkylidenecyclopropane derivatives. The ready availability of a wide range of these chiral entities now provides an excellent opportunity to discover new and unique transformations that can further enrich mainstream synthetic methodology.     

Silylated iminophosphonates: Novel reactive synthons for the preparation of fluorinated aminophosphonates and aminophosphonic acids

A convenient synthetic approach towards previously unknown N- and N,O-silylated α-iminophosphonates bearing fluoroalkyl groups at the imine C atom was developed. The synthetic potential of the compounds was demonstrated by their easy functionalization and the straightforward preparation of biorelevant aminophosphonates and free aminophosphonic acids with heterocyclic residues in the α-position.     

Calixarene amino acids; building blocks for calixarene peptides and peptide-dendrimers

A modular strategy towards receptor macromolecules is presented, which combines synthetically diverse peptide synthesis with highly functional calixarene chemistry. The design and synthesis of calix[4]arene amino acids 1a-f, calix-lysines, is described, which were used as construction blocks to assemble nanoscale, multivalent entities—calix-peptides 2 and calix-peptide-dendrimers 3.     

Systematic preparation of Mo 2 4+ building blocks for supramolecular assemblies

The preparation of additional and useful building blocks for the construction of supramolecular entities with quadruply bonded Mo(2)(4+) units has been explored, and five new mixed-ligand complexes with three types of ligands and various basicities are reported. The ligands used were the DAniF (N,N'-di-p-anisylformamidinate) anion, the acetate anion, and neutral acetonitrile molecules. The formamidinate ligands are the least labile, and the acetonitrile molecules are the most labile. This difference as well as a relatively strong trans directing influence by the formamidinate anions in ligand substitution reactions allows designed synthesis of various mixed-ligand building blocks, including rare pairs of cis and trans isomers. The new compounds are cis-Mo(2)(DAniF)(2)(O(2)CCH(3))(2) (1), trans-Mo(2)(DAniF)(2)(O(2)CCH(3))(2) (2), trans-[Mo(2)(DAniF)(2)(O(2)CCH(3))(CH(3)CN(eq)())(2)]BF(4) (3), trans-[Mo(2)(DAniF)(2)(CH(3)CN(eq)())(4)](BF(4))(2) (4), and [Mo(2)(O(2)CH(3))(CH(3)CN(eq)())(6)(CH(3)CN(ax)())](BF(4))(3) (5), where eq and ax designate equatorial and axial ligands, respectively. A comparison with some previously synthesized complexes is given along with a discussion of the overall reactivity of all compounds.     

Oligosilsesquioxanes as versatile building blocks for the preparation of self-assembled thin films

A self-assembly approach to the preparation of nanocomposite siliceous thin films by using oligosilsesquioxanes as building blocks is presented. Poly(styrene-4-sulfonate), PSS, and octa(3-aminopropyl)silsesquioxane, NSi8, were layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled onto planar substrates and polystyrene (PS) particles, thus forming composite multilayers. We have clarified the binding properties of NSi8 to PSS by examining the pH influence on film buildup by microelectrophoresis (zeta-potential) and quartz crystal microgravimetry (QCM). The regular growth of PSS/NSi8 multilayers on planar supports was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and QCM. By applying the LbL coating procedure to spherical templates, we prepared compact, microporous hollow silica spheres by calcining PS spheres coated with (poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH)/PSS)(2)/(NSi8/PSS)(n) (n varying from 3 to 12), at 750 degrees C, because of sintering of the octameric clusters (NSi8). Hollow spheres derived from coatings with n = 3 drastically altered in size (relative to the template core), depending on the size of the PS particles used. The novelty of this method for the nanofabrication of siliceous films stems from the use of well-defined and discrete building blocks, such as NSi8, leading to homogeneous organic-silica composite films as well as individual siliceous particles of variable size and shape.     

New strategy for the stereoselective synthesis of fluorinated beta-amino acids

Racemic and chiral nonracemic alpha-substituted and alpha-unsubstituted beta-fluoroalkyl beta-amino acid derivatives 6 and 9 have been synthesized in two steps starting from fluorinated imidoyl chlorides 1 and ester enolates. This approach is based on the chemical reduction of previously obtained gamma-fluorinated beta-enamino esters 4 by using ZnI(2)/NaBH(4) in a nonchelated aprotic medium (dry CH(2)Cl(2)) as the reducing agent. A metal-chelated six-membered model has been suggested to explain the stereochemical outcome of the reduction reaction. The process takes place with high yields and with moderate to good diastereoselectivity. The best results related to diastereoselective reduction of chiral beta-enamino esters 4 were provided by the use of (-)-8-phenylmenthol as a chiral auxiliary.