Asymmetric synthesis of ephedrine analogs

Addition of nitromethane to the chiral chromium tricarbonyl complex of o-tolualdehyde (1) gives, under conditions of kinetic control, the nitroalcohol 2 with 95% of asymmetric induction. Compound 2 then gives, in 3 steps, the corresponding aminoalcohol in about 40% yield. Use of nitroethane gives the nitroalcohol with a small diastereoselectivity at C(2)-C(3) (d.e. = 30 and 55%), but analogs of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine can be obtained optically pure by chromatography.     

Isolation,analysis, and synthesis of ephedrine and its derivatives

A review is given of methods for the isolation, quantitative determination, and modification of the ephedrine alkaloids, and advances in this field of natural compound chemistry are discussed.Institute of Organic Synthesis and Coal Chemistry of the Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, Karaganda. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 307–319, May–June, 1989.     

Efficient ecofriendly synthesis of pyrazole acryloyl analogs by amino acid catalysis

An easy and effective green approach of Knoevenagel condensation and arylidene formation with the substrates involves pyrazole-3-carbaldehydes and active methylenes under catalytic action of glycine (the simplest amino acid) in dimethylsulfoxide. These reactions were successfully carried out at room temperature.     

Molecularly imprinted polymer for solid‐phase extraction of ephedrine and analogs from human plasma

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized and evaluated to selectively extract ephedrine from human plasma. The MIP synthesis was performed in chloroform with methacrylic acid as a functional monomer and the target alkaloid as a template molecule. The resulting MIP was applied to the selective extraction of ephedrine from a pure aqueous medium. A recovery about 74% was obtained using the MIP with only 7% on the nonimprinted polymer (NIP). A very straightforward selective SPE procedure was then successfully applied to the direct extraction of ephedrine from spiked human plasma with a high extraction recovery (68%) on the MIP with no recovery on the NIP. Moreover, the MIP was used for the selective extraction of catecholamine neurotransmitters, i.e. adrenaline and noradrenaline.     

‘Click’ synthesis of triazole-based spirostan saponin analogs

Novel analogs of spirostan saponins in which the glycosidic bond has been replaced by a triazole linkage are described. For this, a direct oligosaccharide-steroid conjugation approach based on the Cu^I-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition was implemented, leading to diverse combinations of saponin analogs with variations in the trisaccharide moiety, the artificial linkage, and the steroid-skeleton functionalization. This ‘click’ process proved great efficiency for the ligation of two bulky building blocks (e.g., chacotriose derivatives and spirostanes bearing axial azides), which enabled the rapid creation of a small library of triazole-based analogs for cytotoxicity evaluation. A molecular modeling study was performed to understand the conformational and electronic differences between a natural saponin and its triazole-based analogs.     

Direct amino acid-catalyzed cascade reductive alkylation of arylacetonitriles: high-yielding synthesis of ibuprofen analogs

A novel approach for a one-pot, three-component reductive alkylation (TCRA) reaction of arylacetonitriles-containing electron-withdrawing groups with aldehydes/ketones and 1,4-dihydropyridine via iminium-catalysis has been developed. Many TCRA reaction products have direct applications in agricultural and pharmaceutical chemistry.     

Organophosphorus analogs of amino acids and peptides

A method for obtaining phosphorus analogs of homoproline was developed, and the complexing properties of these compounds were studied. An effective method for obtaining optically active 1-aminoalkylphosphonic acids that is based on the stereoselective enzymatic hydrolysis of their N-acyl derivatives is proposed. New approaches to the synthesis of phosphonopeptides using privalyl chloride as the condensing agent, silylated amino phosphonic acids as the amino components of peptide synthesis, and the proteinase papain as the stereoselective catalyst for the formation of the peptide bond were developed.Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 288–293, May–June, 1991. Original article submitted February 8, 1991.     

Interaction with cholinesterases and conformational analysis of analogs of acetylcholine containing the alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine

Acetyl--methylcholine analogs of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine have been synthesized. The kinetics of their interaction with cholinesterases have been studied. To explain the differences in the sensitivity of the enzymes to conformers, a conformational analysis of the compounds synthesized has been made by the NMR method.A. S. Sadykov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences, Tashkent. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 654–658, September–October, 1988.     

Design,synthesis, and anti-TMV bioactivities of nucleobase phosphonate analogs

A series of novel nucleobase derivatives and their analogues possessing diethoxyphosphoryl scaffolds were synthesized through four-step reactions and screened for their antiviral activity toward tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Preliminary bioassays suggested that some of these simple structures displayed appreciable anti-TMV activity in vivo. Among them, compound (diethoxyphosphoryl)methyl 4-[2-(1H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-1-yl)acetamido]-benzoate (a-3) exerted the strongest chemotherapeutic and protective effects against TMV with the rates of 52.8 and 72.2% at the dosage of 500 µg/mL, respectively, which were comparable with those of the commercial agricultural antiviral agent ningnanmycin (54.2 and 70.2%). Molecular docking with TMV helicases revealed that compound a-3 had strong interactions with receptor amino acid residues. Given the facile synthetic route and significant chemotherapeutic and protective potentials, compound a-3 could be further studied and exploited as a promising antiviral candidate.     

Total synthesis of neopeltolide and analogs

Neopeltolide, a potent cytotoxin from a Carribean sponge, was synthesized through a brief sequence that highlights the use of ethers as oxocarbenium ion precursors. Other key steps include an acid-mediated etherification and sequence that features a Sonogashira reaction, an intramolecular alkyne hydrosilylation reaction, and a Tamao oxidation. The alkene that is required for the oxidative cyclization can be hydrogenated to provide access to the natural product or an epimer, or can be epoxidized or dihydroxylated to form polar analogs.     

Efficient synthesis of B-alkylated oxazaborolidines derived from ephedrine and norephedrine

[reaction: see text] Representative B-butyl- and B-methyl-1,3,2-oxazaborolidines derived from ephedrine and norephedrine were prepared in good yield and excellent purity by one-pot treatment of B-H oxazaborolidines with the corresponding organolithium reagent and subsequent hydrolysis of the cyclic borohydride intermediate with anhydrous ammonium chloride.     

Asymmetric synthesis of pentenomycin I, epipentenomycin I, and their analogs

The synthetic utility of the intramolecular acylation of α-sulfinyl carbanions as an efficient and general synthetic approach for the preparation of (−)-pentenomycin I (1) and (−)-epipentenomycin I (5) and their enantiomers (ent-1 and ent-5), starting from chiral (2S,5S,6S)-ester 6 and ent-6, respectively, has been demonstrated. Easy accesses to pentenomycin analogs have also been demonstrated through the Pummerer, Suzuki-Miyaura, and Sonogashira reactions.     

Stable cyclopropene-containing analogs of the amino acid neurotransmitter glutamate

As a neurotransmitter, the amino acid glutamate has been the subject of efforts to generate structural analogs with unique properties. Here we report a practical, half-gram synthesis of two cyclopropene-containing glutamate analogs. These analogs are stable in solution, in the presence of the biological nucleophile glutathione, upon concentration, and during long-term storage, while maintaining their amenability to photo- or enzyme-caging and reactivity with bioorthogonal reaction partners like s-tetrazine or light-activated tetrazoles.     

Bidirectional synthesis of montamine analogs

Reported herein is a bidirectional synthesis of symmetric N,N′-diacyl hydrazide compounds closely resembling the alkaloid natural product montamine. In the process, di-tert-butyl hydrazine-1,2-dicarboxylate was smoothly dialkylated with alkyl halides, then Boc deprotected and acylated with an acetate-protected acid chloride derived from ferulic acid. After acetate removal, simple montamine analogs were obtained in excellent overall yields. Fischer indole synthesis with 4-methoxyphenylhydrazine hydrochloride and dihydrofuran provided 5-methoxytryptophol, which was then elaborated to the 1,2-bis(5-methoxyindol-3-yl)hydrazide structure bearing the substitution pattern found in montamine.