De novo asymmetric synthesis of D- and L-swainsonine

[reaction: see text] The enantioselective syntheses of both enantiomers of the indolizidine natural product swainsonine have been achieved in 13 steps from furan. The indolizidine ring system is installed by a one-pot hydrogenolysis of both an azide and an O-Bn group along with an intramolecular reductive amination reaction. The asymmetry of swainsonine was introduced by Noyori reduction of an acylfuran. This route relies upon an Achmatowicz rearrangement, a diastereoselective palladium-catalyzed glycosylation, Luche reduction, and a dihydroxylation reaction.     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of 8a-epi-swainsonine

An enantioselective and diastereocontrolled approach to 8a-epi-d-swainsonine has been developed from achiral furfural. The key step to this synthesis was a one-pot procedure for the hydrogenolytic removal of two protecting groups and two intramolecular reductive amination reactions. The absolute stereochemistry was introduced by asymmetric Noyori reduction of furfuryl ketone. This route relies on diastereoselective palladium-catalyzed glycosylation to install the anomeric bond, and Luche reduction, diastereoselective dihydroxylation to set up the manno-stereochemistry of the indolizidine precursor.     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of fridamycin E

A de novo asymmetric synthesis of (R)- and (S)-fridamycin E has been achieved. The entirely linear route required only nine steps from commercially available starting materials (16% overall yield). Key transformations included a Claisen rearrangement, a Sharpless dihydroxylation and a cobalt-catalyzed epoxide carbonylation to give a β-lactone intermediate. Antibacterial activities were determined for both enantiomers using two strains of E. coli, with the natural (R)-enantiomer showing significant inhibition against a Gram-(+)-like imp strain (MIC = 8 μM).     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of anamarine and its analogues

[reaction: see text] The enantioselective synthesis of anamarine has been achieved in 21 steps. The route relies on enantio- and regioselective Sharpless dihydroxylation of dienoate ester and zinc borohydride reduction to establish the C-8-C-11 stereochemistry. A diastereoselective Leighton allylation established the desired C-5 stereochemistry. The route has also been used to prepare two diastereoisomers of anamarine in 14 steps.     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of anthrax tetrasaccharide and related tetrasaccharide

A de novo asymmetric approach to the natural product anthrax tetrasaccharide 1 and an analogue 2 with an anomeric hexyl azide group has been developed from acetylfuran. The construction of the tetrasaccharide was achieved by a traditional [3 + 1] glycosylation strategy. An iterative diastereoselective palladium-catalyzed glycosylation, Luche reduction, diastereoselective dihydroxylation, and regioselective acylation were employed for the assembly of the L-rhamno-trisaccharide building block. The anthrose building block also required a palladium-catalyzed azide allylation and a triflate inversion to set the gluco-stereochemistry in addition to Luche reduction and dihydroxylation.     

De novo asymmetric syntheses of D- and L-talose via an iterative dihydroxylation of dienoates

[reaction: see text] A short and highly efficient route to D- and L-talo-gamma-lactones has been developed. The key transformation was the sequential osmium-catalyzed bis-dihydroxylation reaction of substituted 2,4-dienoates. When the first dihydroxylation reaction is performed on (2Z,4E)-dienoates with use of the Sharpless AD-mix procedure, a regio- and enantioselective dihydroxylation resulted along with an in situ lactonization. A subsequent dihydroxylation, using OsO4/NMO in MeOH conditions, resulted in an exceedingly diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of talo-gamma-lactone.     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of homoadenosine via a palladium-catalyzed N-glycosylation

[reaction: see text] A highly stereoselective synthesis of l-2-deoxy-beta-ribo-hexopyranosyl nucleosides from 6-chloropurine and Boc-protected pyranone has been developed. Our approach relies on the iterative application of a palladium-catalyzed N-glycosylation, diastereoselective reduction, and reductive 1,3-transposition. This strategy is amenable to prepare various natural and unnatural hexopyranosyl nucleosides analogues.     

De novo asymmetric syntheses of (+)-goniothalamin, (+)-goniothalamin oxide, and 7,8-bis-epi-goniothalamin using asymmetric allylations

A highly enantio- and diastereoselective approach to either enantiomer of (+)-goniothalamin, (+)-goniothalamin oxide, and 7,8-bis-epi-goniothalamin oxide has been developed from achiral cinnamyl alcohol or cinnamaldehyde. The asymmetry of the synthesis was installed by means of a Krische or Leighton allylation. The remaining stereochemistry was installed by a diastereoselective epoxidation.     

De novo asymmetric synthesis of milbemycin beta3 via an iterative asymmetric hydration approach

The enantioselective synthesis of the spiroketal/macrolide natural product milbemycin beta3 has been achieved in 22 steps and 2.8% overall yield from an achiral dienoate. The spiroketal ring system was installed by three sequential asymmetric hydrations followed by sprioketalization. Both the absolute and relative stereochemistry of milbemycin beta3 was introduced by two Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylations, two pi-allylpalladium-catalyzed reductions, and an iridium-catalyzed hydrogen migration/Claisen rearrangement to install the C-12 stereocenter.     

De novo synthesis of natural products via the asymmetric hydration of polyenes

For the last ten years our group has been working toward the development of an asymmetric hydration approach to polyketide natural products based on the regioselective hydration of di- and tri-enoates. Key to the success of this approach is the recognition that both high regiocontrol and asymmetric induction could be obtained by the use of a Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction. Herein we describe the development of the method and its application to natural product total synthesis.     

De novo asymmetric bio- and chemocatalytic synthesis of saccharides - stereoselective formal O-glycoside bond formation using palladium catalysis

A novel integrated bio- and chemocatalytic approach to the de novo catalytic asymmetric synthesis of saccharides has been developed. Acetoxypyranones obtained enantiopure by enzymatic resolution have been shown to undergo highly stereoselective palladium-catalyzed formal O-glycoside bond formation. The combination of these protocols can be applied to the iterative asymmetric catalytic synthesis of saccharides.     

De novo design, synthesis, and characterization of quinoproteins

Quinones and quinoproteins are essential redox components and enzymes in biological systems. Here, we report the de novo design, synthesis, and properties of model four-alpha-helix bundle quinoproteins. The proteins were designed and constructed from three different helices with 21 or 22 amino acid residues by chemoselective ligation to a cyclic decapeptide template. A free cysteine unit is placed at the hydrophobic core of the protein for binding of ubiquinone-0 and menaquinone-0 through a thioether bond. The quinoproteins with molecular weights of 11-12 kDa were characterized by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, UV/Vis spectroscopy, size-exclusion chromatography, circular dichroism measurements, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and redox-induced FTIR difference spectroscopy. The midpoint redox potentials at pH 8 in aqueous solution E(m,8) of thioether conjugates with N-acetyl cysteine methyl ester were 89 mV and -63 mV and with a synthetic protein 229 mV and 249 mV versus standard hydrogen electrode (SHE) for ubiquinone-0 and menaquinone-0, respectively. Detailed redox-induced FTIR difference spectroscopic studies of the model compounds and quinoproteins show the special resonance features for C=O bands at 1656-1660 and 1655-1665 cm(-1) due to the sulfur substitution to ubiquinone-0 and menaquinone-0, respectively. The construction of model quinoproteins represents a significant step toward more complex artificial redox systems.     

De novo synthesis of oligosaccharides using a palladium-catalyzed glycosylation reaction

The natural all d- and/or unnatural all l-1,4- and 1,6-oligosaccharides were synthesized from furan alcohols using a palladium-catalyzed glycosylation reaction. The 1,4- and 1,6-alpha-manno-disaccharides were achieved in seven total steps starting from chiral furan alcohols. Similarly, 1,4- and 1,6-alpha-manno-trisaccharides were also synthesized in nine total steps. Key to the overall efficiency of this process was the use of highly diastereoselective palladium-catalyzed glycosylations, reductions, and dihydroxylations.     

De novo synthesis of (+)-isofregenedol

An efficient enantioselective synthesis of (+)-isofregenedol was achieved in 13 steps from commercially available cyclohexene oxide without the use of protecting groups. The tetrahydronaphthalenic core of isofregenedol was obtained via a gold(I)-catalyzed benzannulation recently developed in our laboratory.     

De novo design, synthesis, and characterization of antimicrobial beta-peptides

beta-Peptides are a class of polyamides that have been demonstrated to adopt a variety of helical conformations. Recently, a series of amphiphilic L(+2) helical beta-peptides were designed, which were intended to mimic the overall physicochemical properties of a class of membrane-active antimicrobial peptides, including magainin and cecropin. Although these peptides showed potent antimicrobial activity, they also showed significant activity against human erythrocytes. Operating under the assumption that their lack of specificity arose from excessive hydrophobicity, two additional beta-peptides H-(beta(3)-HAla-beta(3)-HLys-beta(3)-HVal)(n)-NH(2) (n = 4, 5) were designed and synthesized. Both have high antimicrobial activities, but very low hemolytic potencies. The peptides bind in an L(+2) conformation to phospholipid vesicles, inducing leakage of entrapped small molecules. The peptides have a low affinity for membranes consisting of neutral phosphatidylcholine lipids, but bind avidly to vesicles containing 10 mol % of acidic phosphatidylserine lipids. Differences in vesicle leakage kinetics for the two peptides suggest that chain length could affect their mechanisms of disrupting cell membranes. Thus, insights gained from the study of variants of natural alpha-peptides have provided a useful guide for the design of nonnatural antimicrobial beta-peptides.     

De novo sequencing of peptides using MALDI/TOF-TOF

The recently developed MALDI TOF-TOF instrument yields relatively complex but interpretable fragmentation spectra. When coupled with a straightforward sequence extension algorithm, it is possible to develop complete peptide sequences de novo from the spectra. This approach has been applied to a set of peptides derived from typtic digestion of electrophoretically separated sea urchin egg membrane proteins. When directed to proteins that have been described previously, the results were in essential agreement with those obtained by conventional data base searching approaches, with certain important exceptions. The present method detected errors in published sequences and was able to develop sequences from peptides differing in mass by one dalton (Da). These results show both the power of the present approach and the need for using de novo methods more frequently than may be otherwise appreciated.     

De novo synthesis of Tamiflu via a catalytic asymmetric ring-opening of meso-aziridines with TMSN3

An asymmetric ring-opening reaction of meso-aziridines with TMSN3 was developed using a catalyst prepared from Y(OiPr)3 and chiral ligand 2 in a 1:2 ratio. Excellent enantioselectivity was realized from a wide range of substrates with a practical catalyst loading. The products were efficiently converted to enantiomerically enriched 1,2-diamines, which are versatile chiral building blocks for pharmaceuticals and chiral ligands. This reaction was applied to a catalytic asymmetric synthesis of Tamiflu, a very important anti-influenza drug containing a chiral 1,2-diamino functionality.     

De novo synthesis of 2-substituted syn-1,3-diols via an iterative asymmetric hydration strategy

The enantioselective syntheses of several protected 4-substituted syn-3,5-dihydroxy carboxylic esters have been achieved from the corresponding achiral (E,E)- or (E,Z)-1,3-dienoates. The route relies upon an enantio- and regioselective Sharpless dihydroxylation and a palladium-catalyzed reduction to form gamma-substituted delta-hydroxy-1-enoates. The resulting delta-hydroxy-1-enoates are subsequently converted into benzylidene-protected 4-substituted syn-3,5-dihydroxy carboxylic esters in one step. The benzylidene-protected 3,5-dihydroxy carboxylic esters are produced in good overall yields (20-54%) and high enantiomeric excess (73-97% ee).