Synthesis of mono N-trifluoroethylated cyclic dipeptides

Trifluoroethylated N-termini in linear dipeptides l-TyrXOR [X = Gly, d-Ala, l-Leu, l-Phe, and l-Glu; R = H, Me, Et] exhibit sufficient nucleophilicity to give piperazine-2,5-dione ring formation through intramolecular cyclization reaction in acidic aqueous solutions. The reactions occur in high yield and with absolute configuration retention.     

Synthesis of cyclic and acyclic beta-amino acids via chelation-controlled 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition

Isoxazolidines have been synthesized in diastereomeric excess up to 94% via a MgBr2-induced chelation-controlled 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with N-hydroxyphenylglycinol as a chiral auxiliary. The diastereomerically pure isoxazolidines were further transformed into cyclic and acyclic beta-amino acid derivatives.     

Synthesis and evaluation of 3-acyltetronic acid-containing metal complexing agents

Potential metal chelators containing one or several acyltetronic acid moieties were prepared from cyclic or acyclic amines and polyamines, and from bis(phenols) by reaction with 1–4 equiv of 3-bromoacetyltetronic acid in the presence of potassium carbonate. The affinity constants of the chelating agents for toxic metallic cations Cd²⁺, Cs⁺, and Pb²⁺ and for dimethylarsinic acid were measured, at pH 7.5 and 9.3. Compound 4, an acyclic triamine containing four acyltetronic moieties, was found to complex efficiently all the tested species.     

Synthesis of cyclic beta-amino acid esters from methionine, allylglycine, and serine

Here we report a versatile ring-closing metathesis-based approach to 5-, 6-, and 7-membered cyclic beta-amino esters starting with simple and readily available building blocks-methionine, allylglycine, and serine-where the nature of the amino acid determines the size of the carbocyclic ring.     

Quantum chemical study of cyclic dipeptides

The preferred conformations of cyclic dipeptides were first studied systemically using the density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP method at the 6‐31G(d) level. The structural characteristics of cyclic dipeptides were revealed, most of which have not been confirmed until now. Our studies showed that the six‐member main circles of cyclic dipeptides composed of natural L ‐amino acid residues appeared as boat conformations. The important factors that influence conformations of cyclic dipeptides, such as molecular total energy, nuclear repulsion energy, molecular orbit, spatial effects, and reactive mechanism, are discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Crown-ether-modified cyclic dipeptides as supramolecular chiral catalysts

With the objective to develop supramolecular catalysts for useful chemical transformations, we report here a rapid and efficient solid-phase synthesis of novel cyclic dipeptides (crown-CDPs) with a diversity of L-DOPA derived crown ether substituents and stereochemistry. We prepared and characterized 14 crown-CDPs and evaluated their efficiency as supramolecular epoxidation catalysts in a water/hexanes biphasic system. Yields increase significantly in the presence of the crown-CDPs, though enantioselectivity depends on the nature of the substituents. The results reported constitute a useful approach for chiral epoxides of interest and further illustrate the potential of cyclic peptides as supramolecular catalysts.     

Theoretical UV circular dichroism of aliphatic cyclic dipeptides

Four cyclic dipeptides (piperazine-2,5-diones), cyclo(L-Pro-Gly), cyclo(L-Pro-L-Leu), cyclo(L-Ala-L-Ala), and cyclo(L-Pro-L-Ala), were modeled from crystal structure data. Conformations resulting from energy minimization using molecular mechanics were compared with traditional ab initio and density functional theory geometric optimizations for each dipeptide. In all computational cases, the gas phase was assumed. The pi-pi transition feature of the UV circular dichroic (CD) spectra was predicted for each peptide structure via the classical dipole interaction model. The dipole interaction model predicted CD spectra that qualitatively agreed with experiment when MP2 or DFT geometries were used. By coupling MP2 or DFT geometric optimizations with the classical physics method of the dipole interaction model, significantly better CD spectra were calculated than those using geometries obtained by molecular mechanics. Thus, one can couple quantum mechanical geometries with a classical physics model for calculation of circular dichroism.     

Synthesis of novel phosphinic acid-containing polymers

Three arylene difluoride monomers containing phosphine oxide ( 1 ), phosphinic acid ( 2 ), or phosphinate ester ( 3 ) groups were prepared and polymerized with bisphenol A to give novel poly-(arylene ether)s ( 4 , 5 , and 6 ). The polymers obtained had moderate molecular weights (η_inh: 0.14–0.30 dL g⁻¹ in N-methylpyrrolidinone) and glass-transition temperatures (T_g: 102–200 °C), depending on the phosphine group in the main chain. Using bis(4-fluorophenyl)sulfone as a comonomer improved the polymerization to give copolymers with higher solution viscosities. The stoichiometric investigation revealed that 7 mol % excess of fluoride monomer gave the highest molecular weight copolymer 8 with η_inh of 0.78 dL g⁻¹, which had a T_g of 176 °C, a T of 432 °C, and formed a hard film by casting from solution. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1854–1859, 2001     

Synthesis,stereochemistry and conformational properties of diastereomeric cyclic dipeptides containing tetrahydro-1,4-thiazine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid

The synthesis of linear dipeptides containing N-protected L-phenylalanine and (3R-cis)-tetrahydro-1,4-thiazine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid dialkyl diester residues is described. N-Deprotection of these dipeptides by hydrogenolysis on palladium afforded directly a mixture of cis and trans dioxopiperazines. The stereochemistry and the solution conformational properties of the cyclic dipeptides are determined.     

Interfacial supramolecular biomimetic epoxidation catalysed by cyclic dipeptides

We synthesised a library of cis- and trans-cyclic dipeptides and evaluated their efficacy as catalysts in the asymmetric Weitz-Scheffer epoxidation of trans-chalcone. A thorough investigation relying on structure-activity studies and computational studies provided insights into the mechanism of the process. Our results revealed some structural features required for efficient conversion and for introduction of chirality into the product. The cyclic dipeptide acts as a catalyst by templating a supramolecular arrangement at the aqueous-organic interface required for efficient transformations to occur. Among all cyclic dipeptides investigated, cyclo(Leu-Leu) was the most efficient supramolecular catalyst.     

Asymmetric synthesis of fluorinated cyclic beta-amino acid derivatives through cross metathesis

The asymmetric synthesis of several fluorinated cis-2-aminocycloalkane carboxylic acids (cis-2-ACACs) with a cross metathesis (CM) reaction as the key step has been carried out, constituting the first time a metathesis protocol has been undertaken with fluorinated imidoyl chlorides. Subsequent chemoselective hydrogenation of the olefin moiety, Dieckmann condensation, and stereoselective reduction of the iminic double bond afforded the corresponding beta-amino esters with several ring sizes. The asymmetric version of the process was achieved by using (-)-8-phenylmenthol as a chiral auxiliary.     

Synthesis of ketomethylene analogs of dipeptides

A convenient method of synthesizing ketomethylene dipeptides by using homoallylic Grignard reagents as amino acid analog synthons is described.     

Optical rotation and two chiral C atoms of aliphatic cyclic dipeptides

Accurate geometries structures and total energies have been determined for the conformers of cyclo(L-Pro-Gly), cyclo(L-Ala-L-Ala), and cyclo(L-Pro-Ala) in the gaseous phase, using HF and B3LYP correlation methods at 6−31++G(d), 6−311++G(d, p), 6−311++G(2d, 2p) and aug-cc-pvdz basis sets. High level computations MP2 with 6−311++G(2d, 2p) basis set indicate that the relative stabilities of the available conformers can be determined correctly at the B3LYP/6−311++g(2d, 2p) level of theory. We have also described the implementation of DFT and HF theory for calculations of the optical rotation at 589.3 nm. In L-Ala-L-Ala, and L-Pro-Ala molecules, they have two chiral C (C*), so we discuss the different effect of two chiral C to optical activity of cydo(L-Pro-Gly), cyclo(L-Ala-L-Ala), and cyclo(L-Pro-Ala).     

Synthesis of mono-, bis-spiro- and dispiro-β-lactams and evaluation of their antimalarial activities

Some new mono-, bis-spiro- and dispiro-β-lactams have been synthesized from imines derived from 9H-fluoren-9-one and a ketene derived from 9H-xanthene-9-carboxylic acid or phenoxyacetic acid by a [2+2] cycloaddition reaction in good to excellent yields varying from 45 to 83%. The biological activity of these monocyclic β-lactams was successfully investigated against Plasmodium falciparum K14 resistant strain with excellent EC₅₀ values up to 5 μM.     

Biomimetic epoxidation in aqueous media catalyzed by cyclic dipeptides

We have developed a practical epoxidation of electron-deficient enones in aqueous media using cyclic dipeptides as bioinspired green catalyst. Optimizing the reaction conditions in a triphasic system led to efficient conditions providing epoxides with good enantioselectivities. Depending on the catalyst substituent chirality, both enantiomers are obtained. The cyclic rigidity impacts significantly the enantioselectivity.     

Fragmentation of deprotonated cyclic dipeptides by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

The fragmentation pathways of deprotonated cyclic dipeptides have been studied by electrospray ionization multi‐stage mass spectrometry (ESI‐MSⁿ) in negative mode. The results showed that the fragmentation pathways of deprotonated cyclic dipeptides depended significantly on the different substituents, the side chains of amino acid residues at the diketopiperazine ring. In the spectra of deprotonated cyclic dipeptides, the ion [M? H? substituent radical]^? was firstly observed in the ESI mode. The characteristic fragment ions [M? H? substituent radical]^? and [M? H? (substituent? H)]^? could be used as the symbols of particular cyclic dipeptides. The hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange experiment, the high‐resolution mass spectrometry (Q‐TOF) and theoretical calculations were used to rationalize the proposed fragmentation pathways and to verify the differences between the fragmentation pathways. The relative Gibbs free energies (ΔG) of the product ions and possible fragmentation pathways were estimated using the B3LYP/6–31++G(d, p) model. The results have some potential applications in the structural elucidation and interpretation of the mass spectra of homologous compounds and will enrich the gas‐phase ESI‐MS ion chemistry of cyclic dipeptides. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.