Highly diastereoselective[3+2] cycloadditions between nonracemic p-tolysulfinimines and iminoesters: an efficient entry to enantiopure imidazolidines and vicinal diaminoalcohols

A new procedure for the asymmetric synthesis of imidazolidines and vicinal diamines is reported. The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between nonracemic p-tolylsulfinimines and azomethine ylides generated in situ from alpha-iminoesters and LDA produces N-sulfinylimidazolidines with a high degree of stereocontrol. In contrast, the presence of Lewis acids promotes formation of the cycloadducts through a highly diastereoselective process with opposite stereochemistry. Subsequent transformations of the imidazolidines including oxidative, reductive, and hydrolytic processes that provide easy access to vicinal diaminoalcohols have been explored. Among these, reductive cleavage of the aminal with LiAlH4 is an extremely efficient and general reaction for the synthesis of enantiopure N-sulfinyl-N'-benzyldiaminoalcohols     

Unexpected subtilisin-catalyzed hydrolysis of a sulfinamide bond in preference to a carboxamide bond in N-acyl sulfinamides

Subtilisin Carlsberg-catalyzed hydrolysis of N-chloroacetyl p-toluenesulfinamide favored cleavage of the sulfinamide (S(O)-N) bond with a minor amount ( approximately 25%) of the expected carboxamide (C(O)-N) bond. The sulfinamide hydrolysis was enantioselective (E approximately 17) and yielded remaining starting material enriched in the R-enantiomer and achiral product, sulfinic acid and chloroacetamide, as confirmed by mass spectra and NMR. In contrast, the related subtilisin BPN' and E favored the carboxamide hydrolysis. Hydrolysis of the pseudo-symmetrical N-p-toluoyl p-toluenesulfinamide, which contains a sulfinamide and a carboxamide in similar steric and electronic environments, gave only sulfinamide cleavage (>10:1) for subtilisin Carlsberg, showing that sulfinamide cleavage is the preferred path even when a similar carboxamide is available.     

Asymmetric radical addition of ethers to enantiopure N-p-toluenesulfinyl aldimines, mediated by dimethylzinc-air

Asymmetric radical addition of ethers to enantiopure aromatic N-p-toluenesulfinyl aldimines has been achieved. The requisite radicals were generated by dimethylzinc-air. Lewis acid activation of the N-p-toluenesulfinyl aldimines followed by radical addition gives a mixture of sulfinamide and sulfonamide products. Subsequent treatment of the mixture with dry m-CPBA affords the sulfonamide product in enantiomerically enriched form. [reaction: see text]     

Stereoselective synthesis of cis-2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines via Wacker-type aerobic oxidative cyclization of alkenes with tert-butanesulfinamide nucleophiles

Palladium(II)-catalyzed aerobic oxidative cyclization of alkenes with tethered tert-butanesulfinamides furnishes enantiopure 2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines, originating from readily available and easily diversified starting materials. These reactions are the first reported examples of metal-catalyzed addition of sulfinamide nucleophiles to alkenes.     

Observation of the reversibility of a covalent pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) DNA adduct by HPLC/MS and CD spectroscopy

Pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBDs) are sequence-selective DNA minor-groove binding agents that covalently bond to guanine with a reported preference for Pu-G-Pu sequences (Pu = Purine). Using HPLC/MS and Circular Dichroism (CD) methodologies, we have established for the first time that the aminal bond formed between PBD molecules and DNA is reversible. Furthermore, we have shown that while the rate of aminal bond cleavage does not depend on the sequence preference of a PBD molecule for a particular binding site, the rate of re-formation of the PBD-DNA adduct does. We have also shown that the PBD anthramycin (2) appears to be an exception to this rule in that, during cleavage from the DNA, its C-ring aromatizes and it cannot then re-attach due to a loss of electrophilicity at the C11-position. Although the C-ring aromatization of anthramycin has been previously reported to occur in the absence of DNA and after treatment with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), in this case no pH lowering was required, with the DNA itself appearing to catalyse the process.     

An approach to the stereoselective synthesis of enantiopure dihydropyrroles and aziridines from a common sulfinyl-sulfinamide intermediate

The diastereoselective addition of lithiated vinyl sulfoxides to enantiopure sulfinimines provides direct access to a wide assortment of allylic sulfinamides in good yields and excellent selectivities. These adducts are key precursors to differently functionalized cis- and trans-dihydropyrroles. Modulation of the protecting group on nitrogen prior to cyclization has a significant impact on the stereochemical outcome, allowing for the selective preparation of 2,5-cis- or 2,5-trans-3-sulfinyl disubstituted dihydropyrroles from a common sulfinamide intermediate. Further research on halocyclization conditions has also yielded a stereoselective synthesis of trisubstituted vinyl aziridines from these chiral sulfinamides, simply by changing the halogenating agent.     

Asymmetric synthesis of the protoberberine alkaloid (S)-(-)-xylopinine using enantiopure sulfinimines

A concise enantioselective synthesis of (S)-(-)-xylopinine (1) is described involving the addition of the laterally lithiated derivative of o-tolunitrile of 16 to enantiopure sulfinimine (+)-14. Treatment of the resulting cyano sulfinamide adduct (-)-17b with DIBAL-H accomplishes five operations in a single pot and furnishes the cyclic imine (+)-18 in good yield. Reduction and cyclization affords (S)-(-)-1. Alternatively basic hydrolysis of 17b,c gives isoquinolone 21 that is cyclized and reduced to give (S)-(-)-1.     

The fate of the tert-butylsulfinyl auxiliary after acid-promoted cleavage—a method for recycling t-BuSONH2

Ellman’s chiral auxiliary is converted into tert-butylsulfinyl chloride on sulfinamide deprotection with HCl and can be recovered in high yield upon treatment with ammonia. The enantiopure auxiliary can be obtained by trapping the sulfinyl chloride with a chiral alcohol followed by treatment of the resulting sulfinate ester with LiNH₂.     

Electrospray low energy CID and MALDI PSD fragmentations of protonated sulfinamide cross-linked peptides

Murine S100A8 (A8) is a major cytoplasmic neutrophil protein and is converted to novel oxidation products containing Cys-epsilon amino-Lys sulfinamide cross-links and Met-sulfoxide by the neutrophil oxidant HOCl. Seven products were separated using RP-HPLC, with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) masses after deconvolution of 10,354, 10,388, +/- 1, and 20,707, +/- 3 Da, and all were resistant to reduction by dithiothreitol. The major products with masses of 10,354 Da contained Cys41-Lys34/35 intramolecular cross-links. Additional isomeric products with identical masses (10,354 Da) were isolated and peptide mapping and ESI/MS indicated that Cys41 forms covalent sulfinamide cross-links with either Lys6, Lys76, Lys83, or Lys87 present in A8. Electrospray low energy collisionally induced (CID) spectra of multiply-charged AspN digest peptides with sulfinamide cross-links contained characteristic fragmentations that corresponded to simple cleavage of the nitrogen-sulfur bond with charge retention on either of the fragment ions, allowing conformation of cross-linked peptides. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) post source decay spectra of [M + H] + ions of the same sulfinamide-containing cross-linked peptides fragment similarly, but additional facile fragmentation reactions corresponding to formation of a protonated peptide containing de-hydroalanine were attributed to cleavage of the carbon-sulfur bond. In addition, lose of methanesulfenic acid from Met-sulfoxide was observed. A sulfinamide-containing adduct was isolated after incubation of the A8/HOCl reaction mixture with Lys or alpha N-acetyl Lys with masses of 10,500 or 10,542 Da. ESI/MS/MS and MALDI/post decay source (PSD) analysis of A8(32)-(57)-sulfinamide showed the same characteristic fragmentations as those in the sulfinamide cross-linked peptides, confirming the Cys41-Lys sulfinamide cross-link and suggesting that peptide-peptide sulfinamides may all fragment similarly, allowing ready identification of these cross-links in proteins from more complex biological materials.     

Stereoselective photoinduced electrocyclic ring closure of aromatic enehydrazides. Asymmetric synthesis of 3-aryl dihydroisoquinolones and tetrahydroisoquinolines

A flexible route for the stereoselective synthesis of a variety of 3-aryl dihydroisoquinolones and tetrahydroisoquinolines has been developed. The key step is a diastereoselective photoinduced 6π-electrocyclic ring closure of enantiopure aromatic enehydrazides via a 1,4-remote asymmetric induction. N–N bond cleavage to release the chiral appendage from the preliminary annulated compounds and/or concomitant reduction of the lactam carbonyl group completed the synthesis of the title compounds.     

Structural Manipulation of Aminal-crosslinked Polybutadiene for Recyclable and Healable Elastomers

Recently, increasingly growing efforts have been devoted to incorporating dynamic covalent bonds into covalently crosslinked networks to address the persistent trade-offs between chemical crosslinking and malleability. Herein, a series of dynamic aminal bond crosslinked polybutadiene rubbers(PAPB) are prepared by crosslinking aldehyde group-terminated polybutadiene rubber(APB) with piperazine. By varying the molecular weight of APB, the crosslinking density of PAPB is changed, which offers the platform to regulate the mechanical characteristics and dynamic properties. Specially, with the decrease of APB molecular weight, i.e. with the increase of crosslinking density, the modulus of PAPB gradually increases while the elongation at break conversely decreases, and the activation energy for network rearrangement initially decreases and then increases. The resultant PAPB exhibit vitrimer-like behaviors that can alter the network topologies at elevated temperatures without the loss of structural integrity through dissociative aminal exchange reactions, while the protic source can accelerate aminal dissociation and result in network dissolution even at room temperature. Due to the aminal exchange, PAPB are thermally malleable and can almost restore the original mechanical characteristics after recycling; besides, they are capable of healing at a relatively low crosslinking density.     

Diastereospecific ring cleavage of bornane-2,3-dione in the Bucherer-Bergs reaction

A novel regio- and diastereospecific ring cleavage of bornane-2,3-dione (camphor quinone) under Bucherer-Bergs reaction conditions has been investigated. The simplicity of this transformation provides a novel and straightforward synthetic pathway to enantiopure derivatives of cyclopentane carboxylic acid as well as functionalized hydantoins in just two steps, starting from inexpensive and easily available camphor.     

Asymmetric synthesis of alpha-branched primary amines on solid support via novel hydrazine resins

[reaction: see text]. Two novel chiral hydrazine resins for asymmetric solid-phase synthesis have been developed. The enantiopure beta-methoxyamino auxiliaries, derived from trans-4-hydroxy-(S)-proline and (R)-leucine, were attached to Merrifield resin and transformed into their corresponding hydrazines. Immobilization of various aldehydes, followed by 1,2-addition of organolithium reagents to the resulting enantiopure hydrazones and reductive cleavage from the solid support, furnished alpha-branched amines, which were isolated as their corresponding amides in good overall yields and enantiomeric excesses of up to 86%.     

One‐Pot Three‐Component Synthesis of Vicinal Diamines via In Situ Aminal Formation and Carboamination

A synthesis of vicinal diamines via in situ aminal formation and carboamination of allyl amines is reported. Employing highly electron‐poor trifluoromethyl aldimines in their stable hemiaminal form was key to enable both a fast and complete aminal formation as well as the palladium‐catalyzed carboamination step. The conditions developed allow the introduction of a wide variety of alkynyl, vinyl, aryl, and hetereoaryl groups with complete regioselectivity and high diastereoselectivity. The reaction exhibits a high functional‐group tolerance. Importantly, either nitrogen atom of the imidazolidine products can be selectively deprotected, while removal of the aminal tether can be achieved in a single step under mild conditions to reveal the free diamine. We expect that this work will promote the further use of mixed aminal tethers in organic synthesis.     

Asymmetric Strecker synthesis of α-arylglycines

A practically simple three-component Strecker reaction for the asymmetric synthesis of enantiopure α-arylglycines has been developed. Addition of a range of aryl-aldehydes to a solution of sodium cyanide and (S)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethylamine affords highly crystalline (S,S)-α-aminonitriles that are easily obtained in diastereomerically pure form. Heating the resultant (S,S)-α-aminonitriles in 6 M aqueous HCl at reflux resulted in cleavage of their chiral auxiliary fragments and concomitant hydrolysis of their nitrile groups to afford enantiopure (S)-α-arylglycines. The enantiopurities of these (S)-α-arylglycines were determined via derivatization of their corresponding methyl esters with 2-formylphenylboronic acid and (S)-BINOL, followed by (1)H NMR spectroscopic analysis of the resultant mixtures of diastereomeric iminoboronate esters.     

Novel N1-C4 beta-lactam bond breakage. Synthesis of enantiopure alpha-alkoxy-gamma-keto acid derivatives

Addition reaction of 2-(trimethylsilyl)thiazole (TMST) to cis- or trans-4-formyl-beta-lactams gave enantiopure alpha-alkoxy-gamma-keto acid derivatives via a novel N1-C4 bond breakage of the beta-lactam nucleus. This is the first time that the cleavage of the N1-C4 bond on the beta-lactam nucleus has been shown to occur in 2-azetidinones lacking an aryl moiety at C4. [reaction--see text]     

Highly Diastereoselective [3+2] Cycloadditions Between Non-Racemic p-Tolylsulfinimines and Iminoesters: An Efficient Entry to Enantiopure Imidazolidines and Vicinal Diaminoalcohols

Abstract

Readily available p-tolylsulfinimines undergo highly stereoselective [3 + 2] cycloadditions with azomethine ylides generated from α -iminoesters and LDA to produce N-sulfinylimidazolidines. In the presence of Lewis acids, p-tolylsulfinimines react with glycine iminoester enolates to produce N-sulfinylimidazolidines, after cyclization of open chain intermediates. These mechanistically diverse processes take place with excellent regio-, stereo-, and facial selectivities, and the latter is opposite to most known reactions involving sulfinimines. Some of the resulting imidazolidines have been transformed into examples of a novel class of nonsymmetrical vicinal diamines using reductive and/or hydrolytic protocols.     

A stereoselective method for the synthesis of enantiopure 3-substituted 4-hydroxyproline derivatives via 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions

The stereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between (Z)-1,4-dichloro-2-butene and a menthone-derived nitrone led to the corresponding isoxazolidine. Regioselective azidation of a single chlorine atom followed by another Cu(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (CuAAC) induced enantiopure 1,2,3-triazolyl-functionalized isoxazolidines. The subsequent acidic cleavage of the menthone chiral auxiliary and reductive cleavage of the isoxazolidine N–O bond triggered an intramolecular cyclization through the displacement of the second chlorine. This rapid and stereoselective synthetic strategy provided reliable access to a series of enantiopure 3-substituted 4-hydroxyproline derivatives.     

Characterization by tandem mass spectrometry of stable cysteine sulfenic acid in a cysteine switch peptide of matrix metalloproteinases

Cysteine sulfenic acid (Cys-SOH) is an elusive intermediate in reactive oxygen species-induced oxidation reactions of many proteins such as peroxiredoxins and tyrosine phosphatases. Cys-SOH is proposed to play a vital role in catalytic and signaling functions. The formation of cysteine sulfinic acid (Cys-SO(2)H) and cysteine sulfonic acid (Cys-SO(3)H) has been implicated in the activation of matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) and oxidation of thiol to cysteine sulfinic acid has been associated with the autolytic cleavage of MMP-7. We have examined the formation of cysteine sulfenic acid in a synthetic peptide PRCGVPDVA, which is a cysteine switch domain of MMP-7 and other matrix metalloproteases. We have prepared the cysteine sulfenic acid containing peptide, PRC(SOH)GVPDVA, by reaction with hydroxyl radicals generated by the Fenton reaction (Fe(+2)/H(2)O(2)). We characterized this modified peptide by tandem mass spectrometry and accurate mass measurement experiments. In addition, we used 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazol (NBD-Cl) reagent to form an adduct with PRC(SOH)GVPDVA to provide additional evidence for the viability of PRC(SOH)GVPDVA in solution. We also characterized an intramolecular cysteine sulfinamide cross-link product PRC[S(O)N]GVPDVA based on tandem mass spectrometry and accurate mass measurement experiments. These results contribute to the understanding of a proteolytic cleavage mechanism that is traditionally associated with MMP activation.     

Enantiopure quaternary alpha-trifluoromethyl-alpha-alkoxyaldehydes from L-tartaric acid derived ketoamides

The diastereoselective nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of a range of ketoamides derived from L-tartaric acid has been studied. TMSCF3 in the presence of a catalytic amount of K2CO3 in DMF has been identified as the conditions leading to the highest diastereoselectivities. A sequential one-pot reaction trifluoromethylation-etherification of the trifluoromethylcarbinol has been developed. Only one further one-pot reaction, ketal hydrolysis-oxidative cleavage, led to the final alpha-trifluoromethylated alpha-alkoxyaldehydes. This procedure was applied to the preparation of a series of enantiopure aryl, heteroaryl, and alkyl alpha-trifluoromethyl-alpha-alkoxyaldehydes.