Efficient synthesis of phosphonodepsipeptides derived from norleucine

In the present work, we describe in detail an efficient solution synthesis of norleucine-derived phosphonopeptides mimicking the peptide sequences Nle-Gly(Ala) and Nle-Gly(Ala)-Val. The most efficient strategy involved use of the benzyl group. The synthesis was achieved through BOP-catalysed coupling of the monobenzyl ester of the N-Cbz-protected phosphonate derivative of norleucine with the hydroxyl moieties of derivatised l-lactic or glycolic acid. Subsequently, complete deprotection of the products was achieved in good yields by one-step Pd-catalysed hydrogenolysis. We also prepared the Fmoc-Nle-Ψ[PO(OH)O]-CH₂-COOH synthon and demonstrated that this precursor is a suitable building block for the solid-phase synthesis of cysteine-containing phosphonopeptides.     

A practical synthesis of [C4] N-benzylpiperazine from [C2] glycine

A high yielding gram-scale synthesis of [¹³C₄] N-benzylpiperazine for use as a convenient and versatile building block in isotope labeling studies of clinical drug candidates is reported.     

NO as temporary guanidino-protecting group provides efficient access to Pbf-protected argininic acid

Pbf-protected argininic acid [H-OArg(Pbf)-OH], a building block for Fmoc-solid phase peptide synthesis, is obtained in high yield when a large excess of nitrosating agent is used in conjunction with intermediate N^δ-nitrosyl protection and N^δ-denitrosation in aqueous acidic medium.     

Enantioselective synthesis of (−)-(1R,2R)-1,2-dihydrochrysene-1,2-diol

A general chiral building block containing the 1R,2R-trans-diol moiety was constructed utilizing the stereoselective Shi-epoxidation reaction on a tetralone scaffold assembled by a Negishi cross-coupling on N,N-diethylbenzamide. Further elaboration of this chiral building block into polycyclic aromatic compounds was demonstrated with the total synthesis of the precursor for the most carcinogenic metabolite of chrysene, (−)-(1R,2R)-1,2-dihydrochrysene-1,2-diol in 87% ee.     

Synthesis of new ribosylated Asn building blocks as useful tools for glycopeptide and glycoprotein synthesis

We performed the first synthesis of new Asn derivatives bearing α- or β-ribose as pure anomers, linked by an N-glycosidic bond, on the side chain of the Asn residue orthogonally protected for Fmoc/^tBu SPPS, by an efficient five-step strategy with a global yield of 73% starting from d-ribose. These building blocks are obtained in a large scale and can be useful tools for glycopeptide and glycoproteins synthesis.     

(Z)-(2-bromovinyl)-MIDA boronate: a readily accessible and highly versatile building block for small molecule synthesis

Iterative cross-coupling represents a potentially general approach for the simple, efficient, and flexible construction of a wide range of functional small molecules. In this context, (Z)-(2-bromovinyl)-N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronate is a very useful building block for small molecule synthesis. This compound can serve as a starting material for the preparation of a wide range of cis-alkene-containing MIDA boronates. This compound can also be used for the iterative cross-coupling-based synthesis of various cis-olefin-containing targets. Collectively, these results contribute to the expanding generality of the MIDA boronate platform.     

An activated building block for the introduction of the histidine side chain in aliphatic oligourea foldamers

A new N-Boc-protected monomer for the synthesis of oligourea foldamers containing the (1H-imidazolyl-4yl)methyl side chain of histidine, has been prepared in seven steps from Trt-His(τ-Trt)-OMe. This protecting group combination on histidine was found to be critical to ensure efficient access to the requisite activated building block. This new derivative, suitable for solid phase synthesis, expands the current arsenal of building blocks with proteinogenic side chains useful for the design of peptidomimetic oligourea foldamers.     

Synthesis of glycosaminoglycan oligosaccharides. Part 5: Synthesis of a putative heparan sulfate tetrasaccharide antigen involved in prion diseases

The synthesis of the putative prion-associated heparan sulfate tetrasaccharide containing two d-glucuronic acid units is reported. Key to the synthesis were the differentiation of the N-acetylated and N-unsubstituted glucosamine units, the high-yielding glucosylation at O-4 of an N-acetyl-d-glucosamine derivative and the α-selective glycosylation of the 4′-OH group of a β-d-GlcpA-(1→4)-d-GlcpNAc disaccharide building block with a disaccharide thioglycoside donor.     

Peptide thioester preparation based on an N-S acyl shift reaction mediated by a thiol ligation auxiliary

Formation of peptide thioesters, based on an N to S acyl shift mediated by an auxiliary, N-4,5-dimethoxy-2-mercaptobenzyl (Dmmb) group, under acidic conditions, is described. The protected peptide was assembled on a hydroxymethylphenylacetamidomethyl resin via an N-Dmmb-amino acid residue according to standard Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis following treatment with trifluoroacetic acid. The peptide α-thioester was released from the resin by reaction with 2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid in the presence of N,N-diisopropylethylamine.     

Facile ring-opening of N-acylisatins for the development of novel peptidomimetics

A range of novel mono- and bis-glyoxylamide peptidomimetics were prepared via the facile ring-opening of N-acylisatins with amino acids and peptide derivatives. The ring-opening of N-acylisatins with dipeptides and tripeptides was discovered to be the most efficient strategy for the synthesis of second and third generation glyoxylamides.     

Synthesis of cyclic peptides via O-N-acyl migration

We describe here a novel and convenient synthesis of head-to-tail cyclic peptide avoiding racemization. Linear depsipeptides including a serine residue as the key element for ester bond formation and acyl transfer were synthesized on 2-chlorotrityl chloride resin. After cleavage from the resin, intramolecular head-to-tail cyclization was performed in solution by C-terminal activation of urethane protected O-acyl serine residue. After removal of the N^α-serine protecting group, the final step consisted in O-N-acyl migration reaction on the ‘switch’ or ‘click’ element to restore native cyclic peptides.     

Synthesis of the sphingolipid activator protein, saposin C, using an azido-protected O-acyl isopeptide as an aggregation-disrupting element

In order to achieve an efficient synthesis of highly hydrophobic proteins by the native chemical ligation (NCL) reaction, we examined to incorporate the O-acyl isopeptide method, which is known to improve the solubility of the segment, to the NCL reaction: a peptide thioester having O-acyl isopeptide structures is prepared by the Boc mode solid-phase method using an azido group as a protecting group for the isopeptide site, and then ligated with C-terminal segment with an in situ reduction of the azido group followed by an O- to N-acyl shift. This method was successfully applied to the synthesis of the sphingolipid activator protein, saposin C.     

Expedient synthesis of a novel class of pseudoaromatic amino acids: tetrahydroindazol-3-yl- and tetrahydrobenzisoxazol-3-ylalanine derivatives

A concise synthesis of novel homochiral aromatic amino acid surrogates comprising a tetrahydroindazole or a benzisoxazole system was developed via the acylation of a cyclic 1,3-diketone by the side-chain carboxyl functionality of either Boc-Asp-OtBu or Boc-Glu-OtBu followed by regioselective condensation with hydrazine, N-benzylhydrazine and hydroxylamine. The tetrahydroindazole nucleus was also constructed by the condensation of Boc-Asp-OtBu with the enamine, 1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene followed by acid-hydrolytic treatment and reaction with hydrazines. Further functional group transformations gave N^α-Fmoc-protected derivatives as useful building blocks for solid-phase peptide assembly.     

Improved enantioselective synthesis of natural striatenic acid and its methyl ester

This letter describes the improved and efficient enantioselective synthesis of natural striatenic acid, isolated from Cheilolejeunea serpentina, and its methyl ester starting from a readily available enantiopure building block.     

N-Dmc protected amino acid aglycones: versatile hydrogenolysis stable acceptors for O-glycosylation

N^α-(4,4-Dimethyl-2,6-dioxocyclohexylidenemethylene) (Dmc) protected l-serine, l-threonine and l-homoserine have been prepared as tert-butyl esters in excellent yields. These hydrogenolysis stable acceptors underwent efficient α-O-glycosylation with an l-fucopyranosyl bromide donor and also allowed convenient protecting group manipulations to ultimately deliver novel glycoamino acid building blocks suitable for Fmoc based solid-phase glycopeptide synthesis.     

A practical procedure for the selective N-alkylation of 4-alkoxy-2-pyridones and its use in a sulfone-mediated synthesis of N-methyl-4-methoxy-2-pyridone

It has been found that selective N-alkylation of 4-alkoxy-2-pyridones can be achieved under anhydrous, mild conditions with tetrabutylammonium iodide and potassium tert-butoxide being employed as the catalyst and the base, respectively. The procedure was applied to the preparation of 4-methoxy-1-methyl-2-pyridone, a valuable building block for heterocycle synthesis.     

An improved synthesis of piperazino-piperidine based CCR5 antagonists with flexible variation on pharmacophore sites

An improved and efficient synthetic route towards piperidino-piperazine based CCR5 antagonists was developed. The new approach was flexible for introducing various substituents in the pharmacophore sites via Grignard reagent addition and reductive amination. l-Amino acids were used as a chiral pool to introduce and then induce the desired stereochemistries, meanwhile rendering the variable substitution. The efficient construction of the piperazino-piperidine nucleus was achieved in a highly convergent manner with a key building block of N¹-Boc-4-substituent-4-aminopiperidine, exhibiting significant advantages in terms of concise synthetic route and environmental-friendly reagents over the previously described stepwise synthesis, in which a modified Strecker reaction was involved with highly toxic reagents such as diethylaluminum cyanide.     

Synthetic routes toward pentasaccharide repeating unit corresponding to the O-antigen of Escherichia coli O181

An efficient synthetic strategy has been developed for the synthesis of the pentasaccharide repeating unit corresponding to the O-antigen of Escherichia coli O181. A one-pot, two step iterative glycosylation and [2?+?3] block glycosylation strategy have been adopted for the construction of the pentasaccharide derivative 2, which was then transformed into target compound 1 after a series of functional group transformations. Here H₂SO₄-silica has been used successfully as a promoter for all glycosylation reaction. The stereoselective outcomes of all glycosylation reactions were very good. The 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-l-glucose (l-QuipNAc) building block was obtained from known carbohydrate l-rhamnose precursors.     

Pyruvoyl, a novel amino protecting group on the solid phase peptide synthesis and the peptide condensation reaction

In one of the peptide condensation methods termed thioester method, an amino protecting group is required in the lysine side chain. In this study, to investigate the efficiency of the pyruvoyl group as an amino protecting group, we synthesized N^α-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-N^ε-pyruvoyl-lysine and introduced it into peptides and glycopeptides by the ordinary Fmoc-based solid phase peptide synthesis. The pyruvoyl peptide could be condensed with a peptide thioester by the thioester method, and this protecting group was easily removed by o-phenylenediamine treatment without significant side reactions.     

Synthesis of gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of anamarine

Practical synthesis of two gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of anamarine was described. The important synthetic steps included the preparation of the key intermediates 20-21 through the indium-mediated gem-difluoropropargylation of aldehyde 18 with the fluorine-containing building block 19 and efficient construction of α,β-unsaturated-δ-lactone scaffold via BAIB/TEMPO procedure.