Enantiomerically pure 4-amino-1,2,3-trihydroxybutylphosphonic acids

(1S,2R,3S)-, (1R,2R,3S)- and (1S,2R,3R)-4-amino-1,2,3-trihydroxybutylphosphonic acids were synthesised. The synthetic strategy involved preparation of the respective 4-azido-2,3-O-isopropylidene-l-threose or -d-erythrose, addition of dialkyl phosphites, separation of C-1 epimeric O,O-dibenzyl phosphonates, the reduction of azides and the removal of the protecting groups. The (2R,3S) and (2R,3R) configurations in the final products were secured by employing diethyl l-tartrate and d-isoascorbic acid as starting materials. The stereochemical course of the addition to the carbonyl groups in 4-azido-2,3-O-isopropylidene-l-threose or -d-erythrose followed that established earlier for 2,3-O-isopropylidene-d-glyceraldehyde and similar (3:1-4:1) diastereoselectivities were achieved.     

Synthesis and characterization of (R)-miniPEG-containing chiral γ-peptide nucleic acids using the Fmoc strategy

Diethylene glycol (miniPEG)-containing chiral γPNA is considered to be one of the best PNA derivatives. Its preparation is mainly based on the Boc strategy for solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), requiring the repeated use of trifluoroacetic acid TFA, which is not suitable for the in situ synthesis of PNA arrays and some other applications under mild conditions. Herein, Fmoc/Cbz orthogonal protected miniPEG-containing chiral γPNA monomers were synthesized, and a 15mer γPNA was prepared using the Fmoc strategy under mild conditions.     

Plasmonic-based colorimetric and spectroscopic discrimination of acetic and butyric acids produced by different types of Escherichia coli through the different assembly structures formation of gold nanoparticles

We present a plasmonic-based strategy for the colourimetric and spectroscopic differentiation of various organic acids produced by bacteria. The strategy is based on our discovery that particular concentrations of dl-lactic, acetic, and butyric acids induce different assembly structures, colours, and optical spectra of gold nanoparticles. We selected wild-type (K-12 W3110) and genetically-engineered (JHL61) Escherichia coli (E. coli) that are known to primarily produce acetic and butyric acid, respectively. Different assembly structures and optical properties of gold nanoparticles were observed when different organic acids, obtained after the removal of acid-producing bacteria, were mixed with gold nanoparticles. Moreover, at moderate cell concentrations of K-12 W3110 E. coli, which produce sufficient amounts of acetic acid to induce the assembly of gold nanoparticles, a direct estimate of the number of bacteria was possible based on time-course colour change observations of gold nanoparticle aqueous suspensions. The plasmonic-based colourimetric and spectroscopic methods described here may enable onsite testing for the identification of organic acids produced by bacteria and the estimation of bacterial numbers, which have applications in health and environmental sciences.     

Easy saponification by metal silanolates: application in SPPS and in (S)-5-hydroxynorvaline preparation

Alkali metal trimethylsilanolates, TMSO⁻, M⁺, has been used for efficient conversion of methyl esters into their corresponding anhydrous acid salts under mild non-aqueous conditions. This strategy has been applied to SPPS for the preparation of neurotoxin cyclic analogues and in (S)-5-hydroxynorvaline synthesis.     

Stereoselective synthesis of (−)-tetrahydrolipstatin via a radical cyclization based strategy

An efficient and flexible approach for the total synthesis of (−)-tetrahydrolipstatin is described. The main features of the synthetic strategy are a stereocontrolled radical cyclization and the successful utilization of commercially available S-malic acid.     

Discovery and application of iminotriphenylphosphorane as a formal aromatic primary amine protecting group

During our efforts to selectively synthesise N-arylated benzotriazole fragments, we developed a new primary aromatic amine protecting group strategy showing significant advantages over recognised protecting groups.     

A green protocol for efficient discovery of novel natural compounds: Characterization of new ginsenosides from the stems and leaves of Panax ginseng as a case study

Exploration of new natural compounds is of vital significance for drug discovery and development. The conventional approaches by systematic phytochemical isolation are low-efficiency and consume masses of organic solvent. This study presents an integrated strategy that combines offline comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography, hybrid linear ion-trap/Orbitrap mass spectrometry, and NMR analysis (2D LC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/NMR), aimed to establish a green protocol for the efficient discovery of new natural molecules. A comprehensive chemical analysis of the total ginsenosides of stems and leaves of Panax ginseng (SLP), a cardiovascular disease medicine, was performed following this strategy. An offline 2D LC system was constructed with an orthogonality of 0.79 and a practical peak capacity of 11,000. The much greener UHPLC separation and LTQ-Orbitrap-MS detection by data-dependent high-energy C-trap dissociation (HCD)/dynamic exclusion were employed for separation and characterization of ginsenosides from thirteen fractionated SLP samples. Consequently, a total of 646 ginsenosides were characterized, and 427 have not been isolated from the genus of Panax L. The ginsenosides identified from SLP exhibited distinct sapogenin diversity and molecular isomerism. NMR analysis was finally employed to verify and offer complementary structural information to MS-oriented characterization. The established 2D LC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/NMR approach outperforms the conventional approaches in respect of significantly improved efficiency, much less use of drug materials and organic solvent. The integrated strategy enables a deep investigation on the therapeutic basis of an herbal medicine, and facilitates new compounds discovery in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner as well.     

Cycloaddition approach to benzo-annulated indane-based α-amino acid derivatives

Synthesis of various benzo-annulated indane-based α-amino acid (AAA) derivatives are reported via a [4+2] and [2+2+2] cycloaddition reactions as key steps. Here, o-xylylene based AAA moiety has been used as a reactive intermediate and by adopting this strategy various indane-based constrained AAA derivatives are prepared.     

Synthesis of chiral vicinal C2 symmetric and unsymmetric bis(sulfonamide) ligands based on trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine by aminolysis of N-tosylaziridines

The ring opening of N-tosylaziridines with aliphatic amines can be efficiently catalyzed by lithium perchlorate to provide derivatives of the trans-1,2-diamine in high yields. The reaction was used in desymmetrization of several cyclic N-tosylaziridines using chiral amines. Using this strategy, an efficient synthesis of chiral vicinal C₂ symmetric bis(sulfonamide) and unsymmetrical bis(sulfonamide) ligands based on trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine was developed.     

Nd(OTf)3-catalyzed intramolecular-intermolecular cascade cyclization reaction: An access to phenanthro[9,10-b]furan derivatives

An intramolecular-intermolecular cascade cyclization reaction via multi metal-carbene intermediates has been developed. This reaction uses catalytic amount of Nd(OTf)₃, which actives both alkyne and aldehyde moieties. This protocol provides a novel strategy for the synthesis of phenanthro[9,10-b]furans.     

Photoredox-Catalyzed Giese Reactions: Decarboxylative Additions to Cyclic Vinylogous Amides and Esters

An effective strategy has been developed for the photoredox-catalyzed decarboxylative addition of cyclic amino acids to both vinylogous amides and esters leading to uniquely substituted heterocycles. The additions take place exclusively trans to the substituent present on the dihydropyridone ring affording stereochemical control about the new carbon-carbon bond. These reactions are operationally simplistic and afford the desired products in good to excellent isolated yields.     

Regioselective synthesis of thiophene fused sultam derivatives via iodocyclization approach and their application towards triazole linker

An efficient regioselective synthesis of 4-iodo-2,3-disubstituted-2H-thieno[3,2-e][1,2]thiazine-1,1-dioxide derivatives via iodocyclization approach using iodine under mild reaction condition described herein. This coupling–iodocyclization strategy tolerated a variety of functional groups such as alkyl, cycloalkyl, phenyl producing the six-membered heterocyclic ring selectively. The resulting 4-iodo-2,3-disubstituted-2H-thieno[3,2-e][1,2]thiazine-1,1-dioxide was coupled with a variety of boronic acids (Suzuki coupling) and activated alkenes (Heck coupling). The iodo group was utilized for Sonogashira coupling followed by efficient transformation to azido precursor, which was used for the synthesis of various thieno-sultam linked with triazole.     

Multifunctional zig-zag-shaped D-π-A-π-D emitters with high conjugation extent for blue FOLEDs and host for PHOLEDs

We have synthesized zig-zag shaped, meta- and para-linked D-π-A-π-D blue emitters, m-BTPAPy and p-BTPAPy based on a non-symmetrical connection strategy of two identical π-conjugated groups. The phenanthrimidazole moiety coupled to pyridine via naphthyl spacer by para- and meta-linking modes. Both m-BTPAPy (T_d/T_g, °C: 564/281) and p-BTPAPy (T_d/T_g, °C: 502/246) exhibit excellent thermal stability and can form a stable amorphous film. Changing the connection strategy from para to meta mode, m-BTPAPy shows deep blue emission with CIE (0.15, 0.07). The highly twisted m-BTPAPy exhibit higher Photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY)_s/f of 0.98/0.85 than p-BTPAPy (0.95/0.80) owing to the suppression of intermolecular stacking. The non-doped blue device (BOLEDs) with multifunctional m-BTPAPy/p-BTPAPy show external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.12/5.12% with small roll-off efficiency of 1.68/2.14%, power efficiency (PE) of 5.92/5.42 lm/W, the luminance of 58675/76234 cd/m², and current efficiency (CE) of 6.12/5.86 cd/A. The non-doped device using m-BTPAPy/p-BTPAPy as both emitting and electron-transporting material exhibit luminance of 40671/49539 cd/m², CE of 5.01/5.08 cd/A, PE of 4.68/4.76 lm/W, EQE of 6.12/4.81%, roll-off efficiency of 1.63/1.87%, and CIE (0.15, 0.10)/(0.15, 0.11). These bipolar materials with high triplet energy were employed as hosts in green and red PhOLEDs. The green (m-BTPAPy: Ir(ppy)₃)/red device (m-BTPAPy: Ir(MDQ)₂(acac)) exhibit maximum EQE of 29.85/20.09%, luminance of 79523/42412 cd/m², CE of 78.62/27.56 cd/A, and PE of 72.36/23.86 lm/W, and CIE (0.33, 0.60)/(0.65,0.33).     

Synthesis of protected norcysteines for SPPS compatible with Fmoc strategy

We report the synthesis of racemic Alloc-Ncy(Tmob)-OH, the resolution of its methyl ester and demonstrate its application to form a norcystine bridge in octreotide-amide using the Fmoc strategy on solid phase. N-Alloc and S-Tmob protections of norcysteine (Ncy) were found to be a preferred choice for Fmoc strategy over three other protected norcysteines synthesized, that is, Fmoc-Ncy(tBu)-OH, Alloc-Ncy(tBu)-OH, and Alloc-Ncy(Trt)-OH.     

Unimodal transform of variables selected by interval segmentation purity for classification tree modeling of high-dimensional microarray data

As a greedy search algorithm, classification and regression tree (CART) is easily relapsing into overfitting while modeling microarray gene expression data. A straightforward solution is to filter irrelevant genes via identifying significant ones. Considering some significant genes with multi-modal expression patterns exhibiting systematic difference in within-class samples are difficult to be identified by existing methods, a strategy that unimodal transform of variables selected by interval segmentation purity (UTISP) for CART modeling is proposed. First, significant genes exhibiting varied expression patterns can be properly identified by a variable selection method based on interval segmentation purity. Then, unimodal transform is implemented to offer unimodal featured variables for CART modeling via feature extraction. Because significant genes with complex expression patterns can be properly identified and unimodal feature extracted in advance, this developed strategy potentially improves the performance of CART in combating overfitting or underfitting while modeling microarray data. The developed strategy is demonstrated using two microarray data sets. The results reveal that UTISP-based CART provides superior performance to k-nearest neighbors or CARTs coupled with other gene identifying strategies, indicating UTISP-based CART holds great promise for microarray data analysis.     

First total synthesis of 7(S),16(R),17(S)-Resolvin D2, a potent anti-inflammatory lipid mediator

The first total synthesis of 7(S),16(R),17(S)-Resolvin D2, a lipid mediator derived from docosahexaenoic acid, has been achieved. The key features of our synthetic strategy encompass a Co-salen hydrolytic kinetic resolution of a terminal epoxide combined with a chiral pool strategy.     

A convenient strategy for synthesizing the Agelas alkaloids clathrodin,oroidin, and hymenidin and their (un)saturated linker analogs

A convenient strategy for the scalable synthesis of the 2-aminoimidazole alkaloids, clathrodin, oroidin, and hymenidin derived from marine Agelas species and their analogs possessing a saturated or unsaturated linker moiety is described. The key intermediates, 4-(3-aminopropyl)-1H-imidazol-2-amine and (E)-4-(3-aminoprop-1-en-1-yl)-1H-imidazol-2-amine were obtained through two different synthetic pathways starting from l-ornithine and benzyl 1,2-dihydropyridine-1-carboxylate respectively, using (i) an innovative combination of Weinreb amide strategy with di-Boc protection, and (ii) a modified pyridine-1(2H)-carboxylate based strategy. Convenient access to these 2-aminoimidazole amines is crucial for the synthesis of libraries of clathrodin, oroidin, and hymenidin analogs.     

Highly efficient dialkylphosphate-mediated syntheses of hydantoins and a bicyclohydantoin under solvent-free conditions

Diversely substituted hydantoins have been synthesized by new strategy from cyanamide based precursor, that is, methyl N-cyano-N-alkyl/arylaminoacetate. Dialkylphosphates were employed as the mild reagent to hydrolyze and cyclize the substrate in one step to give quantitative yields of the desired products. Syntheses of multivalent hydantoins viz bis-hydantoin, bicyclohydantoin have potentially widened the scope and applicability of the present method. Solvent-free conditions and very easy work-up procedure make the reaction convenient and eco-friendly. Single crystal structures of some of the representative compounds are also reported.     

Synthesis of dihydroxylated prolines and iminocyclitols from five-membered endocyclic enecarbamates. Total synthesis of the potent glycosidase inhibitor (2R,3R,4R,5R)-2,5-dihydroxymethyl-3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidine (DMDP)

cis- and trans-3,4-Dihydroxylated prolines and the iminocyclitol 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino ribitol were synthesized employing a strategy involving the Heck arylation of five-membered endocyclic enecarbamates with aryldiazonium salts followed by oxidative cleavage of the electron-rich aromatic ring. The total synthesis of the potent α- and β-glucosidase inhibitor (2R,3R,4R,5R)-2,5-hydroxymethyl-3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidine (DMDP) was also achieved by the same strategy in ten steps from a chiral five-membered enecarbamate in 12% overall yield.     

A unified approach to sesquiterpenes sharing trimethyl(p-tolyl) cyclopentanes: Formal total synthesis of (±)-laurokamurene B

A unified approach to the sesquiterpenoids sharing common trimethyl(p-tolyl) cyclopentane skeleton has been disclosed via a key Stork-Danheiser sequence on a cyclopentane based vinylogous ester with aryl Grignard reagent followed by α-methylation strategy. The strategy is eventually applied to the concise formal total synthesis of (±)-laurokamurene B (1b) in only 5 steps with 45.4% overall yield.