Synthetic Analogues of Naturally Occurring Spider Toxins

Naturally occurring spider toxins are potent inhibitors of glutamate receptors of the central nervous system and have the general structure (hetero)arylacyl→aminoacyl( I )→polyamine→aminoacyl( II ) (the arrow indicates the direction of an amide linkage). In the present paper, the synthesis of the ten spider-toxin analogues 13 , 18 , 21 , 28 , 35 , 37 , 39 , 41 , 45 , and 53 are reported (Schemes 1–12). These compounds differ in their subunits and, in some cases, in the sequence of these moieties.     

Recent Progress on the Synthesis and Bioactivity of Marine Naturally Occurring Dienamides and Related Derivatives

The diverse biological activities of many marine naturally occurring dienamides have made them privileged structures for the development of new drugs. This review highlights the different synthetic approaches for the preparation of the marine naturally occurring dienamides and related pharmaceutically active derivatives.     

Synthesis of Naturally Occurring Ld-HepP Containing Disaccharides

ABSTRACT

Diastereoselective hydroxymethylation of a suitably protected α-D-manno-hexodialdo-1,5-pyranoside with the Grignard reagent derived from (phenyldimethylsilyl)methyl chloride gives, after additional protecting group manipulations, an easy access to one donor and two acceptors of LD-Hepp. The latter derivatives could be applied successfully for the preparation of the disaccharides α-D-GlcpN-(1-7)-L-α-D-Hepp-OMe and L-α-D-Hepp-(1-6)-L-α-D-Hepp-OMe.     

Photophysical Characterization of the Naturally Occurring Dioxobacteriochlorin Tolyporphin A and Synthetic Oxobacteriochlorin Analogues

Tolyporphins are tetrapyrrole macrocycles produced by a cyanobacterium‐containing culture known as HT‐58‐2. Tolyporphins A–J are free base dioxobacteriochlorins, whereas tolyporphin K is an oxochlorin. Here, the photophysical characterization is reported of tolyporphin A and two synthetic analogues, an oxobacteriochlorin and a dioxobacteriochlorin. The characterization (in toluene, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, 1‐pentanol, 2‐butanone, ethanol, methanol, N,N‐dimethylformamide and dimethylsulfoxide) includes static absorption and fluorescence spectra, fluorescence quantum yields and time‐resolved data. The data afford the lifetime of the lowest singlet excited state and the yields of the nonradiative decay pathways (intersystem crossing and internal conversion). The three macrocycles exhibit only modest variation in spectroscopic and excited‐state photophysical parameters across the solvents. The long‐wavelength (Q_y) absorption band of tolyporphin A appears at ~680 nm and is remarkably narrow (full‐width‐at‐half‐maximum ~7 nm). The position of the long‐wavelength (Q_y) absorption band of tolyporphin A (~680 nm) more closely resembles that of chlorophyll a (662 nm) than bacteriochlorophyll a (772 nm). The absorption spectra of tolyporphins B–I, K (which were available in minute quantities) are also reported in methanol; the spectra of B–I closely resemble that of tolyporphin A. Taken together, tolyporphin A generally exhibits spectral and photophysical features resembling those of chlorophyll a.     

Convenient Synthesis of Naturally Occurring Methoxy-and Hydroxy Phthalides

A convenient method for the synthesis of phthalides (1–5), involving heteroatom directed lithiation reaction is described.     

Synthesis of Camalexin and Related Analogues

Camalexin is synthesized on a gram scale by coupling of thiazole and indole in an amidoalkylation–oxidation sequence. Several high‐yielding implementations of this two‐step approach are demonstrated with variation of either the intermediate acyliminium reagent or the oxidation conditions. Benzo‐analogues and aza‐analogues of the natural product are also obtained by this method. As a side result, a new formylation of indole is demonstrated.     

Synthesis and Absolute Configuration of Naturally Occurring Dactyloxene-B and -C

Natural (+)-dactyloxene-B (12) and -C (13) have been synthesized starting from (+)-trans-2, 5, 6-trimethyl-l-cyclohexene-l-carbaldehyde (1) which is shown to have the (5S, 6R)-configuration by chemical correlation with (+)-(2R, 3S, 6S)-2, 3, 6-trimethylcyclohexanone. The absolute configurations are therefore (2R, 5R, 9S, 10R) for (+)-dactyloxene-B and (2R, 5S, 9S, 10R) for (+)-dactyloxene-C.     

Synthetic Analogues of Naturally Occurring Spider Toxins: Synthesis of 2‐(Hydroxyphenyl)propanamides of Spermidine and Spermine

In a study on structure‐activity relationships of spider toxins, six model compounds, namely the spermidine derivatives 6 , 8 , and 16 as well as the spermine derivatives 24 , 27 , and 32 were synthesized. The synthesis proceeds through stepwise construction of the polyamine backbone, including protection and deprotection of the amino functions. The differentiation of the derivatives by analytical and spectroscopic methods is discussed.     

New Naturally Occurring Amino Acids

The majority of the 500 or so naturally occurring amino acids known today were discovered during the last 30 years, for example during the search for new antibiotics in the culture media of microorganisms, or as components of the antibiotics in fungi, seeds, in numerous plants and fruits, and in the body fluids of animals. Some 240 of these amino acids occur free in nature, some only as intermediates in metabolism. This article provides an overview of the developments that have taken place in this area since 1956 when the last review appeared. Summary accounts are presented, dealing with new unsaturated amino acids, cyclopropane- and cyclobutane-amino acids, heterocyclic amino acids, halogen-containing amino acids sulfur-, selenium- and phosphorus-containing amino acids as well as aliphatic amino acids. In a few cases, e. g. betalamic acid and muscaflavin, the biosynthesis is described in detail.     

Synthesis of Naturally Occurring Rubilactone,Mollugin, and Dihydromollugin of Rubia cordifolia

Rubilactone ( 1 ), dihydromollugin ( 2 ), and mollugin ( 3 ) are naturally occurring products found in Rubia cordifolia, which is a famous Chinese herb with anti tumor, viral inhibition and other activities. Synthetic studies were carried out in these naphthoic acid esters starting from 1,4‐dihydroxy‐2‐naphthoic acid. In this study, we finished the synthesis of rubilactone which has not been reported before and also synthesized dihydromollugin and mollugin with better yields with different approaches compared to those previously reported in the literature.     

Water-Mediated Synthesis of Benzazole and Thiourea Motifs by Reacting Naturally Occurring Isothiocyanate with Amines

An efficient, green, and facile method has been developed for the synthesis of benzazole and thiourea analogues from naturally occurring erucin in moderate to good yields. The reaction was carried out in water without using any metal catalyst or base. The present method tolerated the various functional groups on aromatic rings and also applicable for other isothiocyanates.     

Biocatalytic Modification of Naturally Occurring Iron Porphyrin

Hematin, a hydroxyferriprotoporphyrin, is the stable, oxidized form of heme. Heme has been reported to be the active catalytic center of naturally occurring peroxidases such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP). While there have been reports on the use of hematin as a catalyst for oxidative polymerization reactions, these reactions could be carried out only at high pH conditions due to limited aqueous solubility of hematin at lower pH conditions. We report here the biocatalytic modification of hematin using a lipase, Novozyme-435. Hematin has been modified by tethering monomethoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG) chains which provide aqueous solubility over a fairly wide range of pH conditions. This pegylated Hematin (PEG-Hematin) is synthesized via a one-step solventless reaction and the products formed can be isolated with minimal purification. The PEG-Hematin synthesized serves as a robust alternative to HRP for the polymerization of aniline and phenol.     

The Synthesis of Epiboxidine and Related Analogues as Potential Pharmacological Agents

Methyl epiboxidine‐N‐carboxylate ( 8 ) was synthesized from 7 under reductive Heck conditions (Scheme 2). The C? C coupling of the new epiboxidine analog 9 with aryl and heteroaryl halides gave by hydroarylation C‐aryl, N‐(3‐methylisoxazol‐5‐yl)‐substituted tricyclic imides 10a – 10f (Table). The [3+2] cycloaddition of 9 with nitrile oxides yielded the bridged dihydroisoxazole derivatives 11a – 11d with potential biological activity (Scheme 4).     

Synthesis of a New Naturally Occurring 3-Phenyl-4H-1-Benzopyran-4-One

7-Hydroxy-8-methoxy-3-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (1), a new isoflavone reported to occur in the aerial parts and roots of Tephrosia maxima has been synthesized by the oxidative rearrangement of 2′-hydroxy-3′-methoxy-4′-benzyloxy-3,4-methylenedioxychalcone (4) with thallium (III) nitrate (TTN) in trimethyl orthoformate (TMOF), followed by acid catalysed cyclization and debenzylation. It has also been synthesized by another method from 2,3,4-trihydroxy-3,4′-methylenedioxydeoxybenzoin; the hitherto unknown biisoflavone, 7,7′-dimethoxy-3′,4″,3″,4″-dimethylenedioxy-8,8′-biisoflavonyl ether was also formed during this method.