Enantioselective α-amination of branched aldehydes promoted by simple chiral primary amino acids

A series of simple chiral primary amino acids were first successfully applied to promote the enantioselective α-amination of branched aldehydes with azadicarboxylates and the desired adducts bearing quaternary stereogenic centers were obtained in excellent yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee).     

One-step synthesis of α-hydorxy acids via reductive double carbonylation of organic halides

Palladium-catalyzed carbonylation of organic halides with water in the presence of calcium hydroxide or lithium hydroxide in primary or secondary alcoholic solvents afforded α-hydroxy acids.     

Synthesis of α-silylcarboxylic acids

New α-silylacetic acids have been prepared following a general and convenient procedure of a one-pot reaction between trimethylsilylacetate and different chlorosilanes. New derivatives of diphenyl(methyl)silylacetic acid were prepared by a direct alkylation of its dianion with benzyl-, allyl-, and alkyl halides and trimethylchlorogermane to afford new α-silylcarboxylic acids.     

Asymmetric alkylation catalyzed by chiral alkali metal alkoxides of TADDOL. Synthesis of α-methyl amino acids

It is shown that sodium alkoxides formed from (4R,5R)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-bis(diphenylmethanol) ((R,R)-TADDOL) and some of its derivatives can be used as chiral catalysts for enantioselective alkylation of Schiff's bases derived from alanine with reactive alkyl halides. Acid hydrolysis of the reaction products affords (R)-α-methylphenyl-alanine, (R)-α-allylalanine, and (R)-α-methylnaphthylalanine in 61–93% yields and withee 69–94%. When (S,S)-TADDOL is used, the (S)-amino acid is formed. A mechanism explaning the observed features of the reaction is proposed. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 926–932, May, 1999.     

LC–MS analysis of low molecular weight organic acids derived from root exudation

A sensitive method for quantification of citric, fumaric, malic, malonic, oxalic, trans aconitic, and succinic acid in soil- and root-related samples is presented. The method is based on a novel, fast, and simple esterification procedure and subsequent analysis via liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Derivatization comprises in situ generation of HCl, which catalyzes the Fischer esterification with benzyl alcohol. As a key advance, the esterification with the aromate allows reversed-phase separation and improves electrospray ionization efficiency. The method provided procedural detection limits of 1 nM for citric, 47 nM for fumaric, 10 nM for malic, 10 nM for malonic, 16 nM for oxalic, 15 nM for succinic, and 2 nM for aconitic acid utilizing 500 μL of liquid sample. The working range was 3 nM to 10 μM for citric acid, 158 nM to 10 μM for fumaric acid, 34 nM to 10 μM for malic acid, 33 nM to 10 μM for malonic acid, 53 nM to 10 μM for oxalic acid, 48 nM to 10 μM for succinic acid, and 6 nM to 10 μM for aconitic acid. Quantification of the analytes in soil-related samples was performed via external calibration of the entire procedure utilizing ¹³C-labeled oxalic and citric acid as internal standards. The robustness of the method was tested with soil extracts and samples from hydroponic experiments. The latter concerned the regulation of phosphorus solubilization via plant root exudation of citric, malic, and oxalic acid.     

Synthesis of α-monoglycerides of aromatic acids

The synthesis of -monoglycerides of aromatic acids has been performed by the transesterification of the methyl esters of the corresponding acids with glycerol. The structures of the compounds obtained have been confirmed by their IR, UV, and¹H and¹³C NMR spectra.A. B. Bekturov Institute of Chemical Sciences, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, fax (3272) 61 57 65. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedineii, No. 4, pp. 452–457, July–August, 1999.     

Metabolomic analysis of amino acids and organic acids in aging mouse eyes using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

This is a metabolomics study for monitoring altered amino acid (AA) and organic acid (OA) metabolism of in eyes from aging an mouse model at 8 and 18 weeks and 18 months. Simultaneous metabolic profiling analysis of OAs and AAs was performed as ethoxycarbonyl/methoxime/tert-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 42 metabolites—24 AAs and 18 OAs—were determined and their composition values were normalized to the corresponding mean values of 8-week-old mice as the control group. Then their normalized values were plotted as star graphs, which were distorted and readily distinguishable for each age-related group. Among the 42 metabolites, 18 AAs and 11 OAs were age dependent and significantly different (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis showed unclear separation between 8- and 18-week-old mice but clear separation between these and 18-month-old mice. In particular, the variable importance in projection scores of 4-hydroxyproline, cis-aconitic acid, glycine, isocitric acid, leucine, pipecolic acid and lysine from partial least-squares–discriminant analysis were higher than 1.3. A heatmap for the classification and visualization of 42 metabolites showed differences in metabolite changes with aging. Altered AA and OA profiles were monitored, which may explain the metabolic disturbance of AA and OA. These findings are related to mitochondrial dysfunctions related to energy metabolism and the impaired antioxidant system in the aging eye. Therefore, the present metabolomics results of the association between physiological states and altered metabolism of AA and OA will be useful for understanding the aging eye and related diseases.     

Synthesis of quaternary α-aminophosphonic acids

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Synthesis of cyclic α-hydrazino acids

Synthesis of five-, six-, seven-, eight-, and nine-membered cyclic α-hydrazino acids from a common starting material ‘diethylmalonate’ with 26, 16, 34, 13.5, and 13.33% overall yields is described. Sequential allylation or homoallylation and electrophilic amination followed by cyclization gave the desired rings. The methyl esters of eight- and nine-membered rings were synthesized by RCM and the corresponding free acids were generated after hydrolysis in the presence of 1 M BBr₃ solution in DCM.     

Chirality measures of α-amino acids

To measure molecular chirality, the molecule is treated as a finite set of points in the Euclidean R(3) space supplemented by k properties, p(1)((i)), p(2)((i)), ..., p(k)((i)) assigned to the ith atom, which constitute a point in the Property P(k) space. Chirality measures are described as the distance between a molecule and its mirror image minimized over all its arbitrary orientation-preserving isometries in the R(3) × P(k) Cartesian product space. Following this formalism, different chirality measures can be estimated by taking into consideration different sets of atomic properties. Here, for α-amino acid zwitterionic structures taken from the Cambridge Structural Database and for all 1684 neutral conformers of 19 biogenic α-amino acid molecules, except glycine and cystine, found at the B3LYP/6-31G** level, chirality measures have been calculated by a CHIMEA program written in this project. It is demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between the measures determined for the α-amino acid zwitterions in crystals and the neutral forms in the gas phase. Performance of the studied chirality measures with changes of the basis set and computation method was also checked. An exemplary quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) application of the chirality measures was presented by an introductory model for the benchmark Cramer data set of steroidal ligands of the sex-hormone binding globulin.     

Facile synthesis of α-hydroxy carboxylic acids from the corresponding α-amino acids

An effective and improved procedure is developed for the synthesis of α-hydroxy carboxylic acids by treatment of the corresponding protonated α-amino acid with tert-butyl nitrite in 1,4-dioxane–water. The amino moiety must be protonated and located α to a carboxylic acid function in order to undergo initial diazotization and successive hydroxylation, since neither β-amino acids nor acid derivatives such as esters and amides undergo hydroxylations. The method is successfully applied for the synthesis of 18 proteinogenic amino acids.     

Derivatives of heterocyclic α-iminocarboxylic acids. 4. Reduction of N-alkoxycarbonyl derivatives of α-iminocarboxylic acids

When N-methoxycarbonyl and N-benzoxycarbonyl derivatives of methyl esters of aziridine-2-carboxylic acid, L-proline, L-thioproline, and pipecolic acid interact with NaBH₄ in tert-butanol/methanol, the products of reduction of the C-methoxycarbonyl group of the original compounds are accompanied by bicyclic urethanes and oxazolidines. Reduction of N-maleates and N-fumarates of heterocyclic -iminocarboxylic acids leads to the formation of -hydroxymethyl-N-[4-(2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuryl)] derivatives of pyrrolidine, piperidine, 1,3-thiazolidine, and 1,4-thiazan. In the latter case, 1-aza-2-hydroxymethyl-4-oxo-5-oxa-9-thiabicyclo [5.4.0]undecene-2 is also obtained. The N-maleates and fumarates of aziridine-2-carboxylic acid are reduced anomalously by sodium borohydride, forming 2-hydroxymethyl-2-(-hydroxyethyl)-3-oxa-1-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes.For Communication 3 see [2].Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 11, pp. 1567–1573, November, 1993.     

GC–MS analysis of organic acids in rat urine: A protocol of direct ultrasound-assisted derivatization

The aim of the present study was to develop a novel ultrasound-assisted derivatization method for analysis of urine that can be used for preliminary screening and monitoring of metabolic disorders. Here we describe an ultrasound-assisted derivatization method followed by GC–MS analysis to quantify 26 organic acids in urine. The optimum levels of the variables affecting the yield of derivatization were investigated, including urease doses, derivatization reagents and derivatization conditions (duration time, reaction temperature and sonic power). The method exhibited the best results with 80 μl urease. The optimal reaction conditions were 100 μl BSTFA, 80% ultrasound power, 70°C and 40 min. This method showed satisfactory linearity, good reproducibility and an acceptable limit of detection and accuracy. Therefore, it could potentially be used to as a standard method to enable comparisons between laboratories. Finally, we applied our method to urine samples from pregnant rats administered 2 or 10 mg/kg folic acid supplementation.     

Influence of α-methyl substitution of proline-based organocatalysts on the asymmetric α-oxidation of aldehydes

The direct asymmetric organocatalytic α-oxidation of aldehydes using trans-2-(p-methylphenylsulfonyl)-3-phenyloxaziridine is reported. This method affords the S isomer of α-hydroxy aldehydes, thereby complementing the selectivity for the R isomer observed using the two-step nitrosobenzene method. Use of α-methylproline and α-methylproline tetrazole significantly increases the enantioselectivity observed for the α-oxidation of aldehydes compared to analogous unsubstituted organocatalysts.     

Asymmetric syntheses of α-methyl γ-amino acid derivatives

This project was undertaken to demonstrate the potential of asymmetric hydrogenations mediated by the chiral, carbene-oxazoline analogue of Crabtree's catalyst "cat" in asymmetric hydrogenations of allylic amine derivatives of amino acids. Peripheral features of the substrates (protecting groups, functional groups related by redox processes, and alkene geometries) were varied to optimize the stereochemical vectors exerted by the substrate and align them with the catalyst vector. N-Acetyl-protected, O-TBDPS-protected allylic substrates 9a-e emerged as the best for this reaction; syn-products were formed from the E-alkenes, while the Z-isomers gave anti-target materials, both with high diastereoselectivities. This study featured asymmetric catalysis to elaborate optically active substrates into more stereochemically complex chirons; we suggest that the approach used, optimization of stereocontrol by varying peripheral aspects of the substrate, tends to be easier than de novo catalyst design for each substrate type. In other words, optimization of the substrate vector is likely to be more facile than enhancement of the catalyst vector via ligand modifications.     

Study of dissociation of α-alkyl-substituted dicarboxylic acids

Dissociation of α-alkyl-substituted dicarboxylic acids low-soluble in water was studied by the method of pH-potentiometry titration. Equilibrium constants of the dissociation at 25°C were determined.     

Derivatives of heterocyclic α-iminocarboxylic acids 3. Synthesis of N-alkoxycarbonyl and N-alkoxycarbonylalkenyl derivatives of α-iminocarboxylic acids

By the interaction of L-proline, L-thioproline, pipecolic acid, tetrahydro-1,4-thiazine-3-carboxylic acid, and diastereomeric esters of tetrahydro-1,4-thiazine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid with methyl chloroformate, methyl propiolate, and acetylenecarboxylic acid, we have obtained N-alkoxycarbonyl and N-alkoxycarbonylalkenyl derivatives of -iminocarboxylic acids. By the reaction of N-methoxycarbonyltetrahydro-1,4-thiazine-3-carboxylic acid with hydrazine hydrate, we have obtained 8-amino-7,9-dioxo-4-thia-1,8-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonane.For communication 2, see [1].Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 11, pp. 1561–1566, November, 1993.     

Preparation of α,α-difluoroalkanesulfonic acids

Chlorodifluoromethanesulfonic acid (1) was prepared using a new procedure starting from perchloromercaptan, which is readily obtained from chlorination of CS₂. Modified Swarts reaction transformed N,N-diethyl trichloromethanesulfenamide into N,N-diethyl chlorodifluoromethanesulfenamide, and the latter species was further oxidized and hydrolyzed into chlorodifluoromethanesulfonic acid. The preparations of other two new α,α-difluoroalkanesulfonic acids, phenyl difluoromethanesulfonic acid (2) and 2-phenyl-1,1,2,2,-tetrafluoroethanesulfonic acid (3), are also disclosed. The acids 2 and 3 are stable in the forms of sodium (lithium) salts or in aqueous solutions; however, the pure forms of 2 and 3 can readily undergo defluorinations. 1-3 and their salts have potential applications as superacid catalysts and lithium battery electrolytes.     

Cyclizations of acetoacetates to α-acyltetronic acids

Cyclizations of β-ketoesters derived from α-hydroxyacetates haveproven problematic; adjustment of reaction conditions allows forgood yields of the λ-unsubstituted-α-acyltetronic acid.