Controlling 6-endo-selectivity in oxidation/bromocyclization cascades for synthesis of aplysiapyranoids and other 2,2,6,6-substituted tetrahydropyrans

A cascade, composed of (i) oxovanadium(V)-catalyzed oxidation of bromide by tert-butyl hydroperoxide and (ii) stereoselective 6-endo-bromocyclization, affords 3-bromo-2-aryl-2,6,6-trimethyltetrahydropyrans from styrene-type tertiary alkenols in synthetically useful yields. (E)-Alkenols add the bromo- and the alkoxy substituent anti-selectively across the double bond, indicating a bromonium ion-mechanism for the ring closure. 6-endo-control of the alkenol cyclization thereby arises from the polar effect of the aryl substituent. Two methyl substituents bound to the alkene terminus are not similarly able to favor 6-endo-cyclization, because strain arising from methyl group repulsion, as the bromonium-activated π-bond and the hydroxyl oxygen approach, directs bromocyclization of tertiary prenyl-type substrates toward tetrahydrofuran formation. A hexasubstituted bromotetrahydropyran prepared from the oxidation/bromocyclization cascade served as starting material for synthesis of racemic aplysiapyranoid A, in a sequence of free radical and polar functional group interconversion.     

Micro-mechanical studies on the effect of various stress-states on ductile damage and failure

The paper deals with the effect of different stress states on damage and failure behavior of ductile materials. To be able to model these effects a continuum damage model has been proposed taking into account the dependence of the stress intensity, the stress triaxiality and the Lode parameter on the constitutive equations. The model is based on the introduction of damaged and fictitious undamaged configurations. Only experiments are not adequate enough to determine all constitutive parameters. Therefore, additional three-dimensional micro-mechanical simulations of representative volume elements have been performed to get more insight in the complex damage mechanisms. These simulations cover a wide range of different void sizes, void shapes and void distributions. After all, the results from the micro-mechanical simulations are used to propose the damage equations and to identify corresponding parameters. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Cross‐metathesis of C‐Glycosides and Peptides

Peptides bearing an acryloyl residue at their N‐terminus were coupled with various C‐glycosides in an equimolar ratio via cross‐metathesis. The newly formed olefin was obtained with high E/Z selectivity in satisfying to high yields with low homodimerization of the starting materials. The posttranslational cross‐metathesis approach was shown to be suitable for the combinatorial synthesis of a small library of C‐glycopeptides.     

Engineering strategy to improve peptide analogs: from structure-based computational design to tumor homing

We present a chemical strategy to engineer analogs of the tumor-homing peptide CREKA (Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala), which binds to fibrin and fibrin-associated clotted plasma proteins in tumor vessels (Simberg et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:932–936, 2007) with improved ability to inhibit tumor growth. Computer modeling using a combination of simulated annealing and molecular dynamics were carried out to design targeted replacements aimed at enhancing the stability of the bioactive conformation of CREKA. Because this conformation presents a pocket-like shape with the charged groups of Arg, Glu and Lys pointing outward, non-proteinogenic amino acids α-methyl and N-methyl derivatives of Arg, Glu and Lys were selected, rationally designed and incorporated into CREKA analogs. The stabilization of the bioactive conformation predicted by the modeling for the different CREKA analogs matched the tumor fluorescence results, with tumor accumulation increasing with stabilization. Here we report the modeling, synthetic procedures, and new biological assays used to test the efficacy and utility of the analogs. Combined, our results show how studies based on multi-disciplinary collaboration can converge and lead to useful biomedical advances.     

Enantioselective Syntheses of the Proposed Structures of Kopeolin and Kopeolone

The first total syntheses of the proposed structures of kopeolin ( 1 ) and kopeolone ( 3 ) have been achieved from a common enantiopure chiral building block obtained by a chemoenzymatic enantioconvergent methodology. The syntheses feature two key steps: a one‐pot reduction/diastereoselective protonation followed by a highly diastereoselective addition of an organocerate. The synthetic structures were fully characterized and all stereocenters were confirmed. The results show that the two previously reported structures were not assigned correctly, and suggest an initial structural misassignment during the isolation of the natural products. Thus, two revised structures, 1′ for kopeolin and 3′ for kopeolone, are proposed.     

Dendron to Central Core S1–S1 and S2–Sn (n>1) Energy Transfers in Artificial Special Pairs Containing Dendrimers with Limited Numbers of Conformations

Two dendrimers consisting of a cofacial free‐base bisporphyrin held by a biphenylene spacer and functionalized with 4‐benzeneoxomethane (5‐(4‐benzene)tri‐10,15,20‐(4‐n‐octylbenzene)zinc(II)porphyrin) using either five or six of the six available meso‐positions, have been synthesized and characterized as models for the antenna effect in Photosystems I and II. The presence of the short linkers, ‐CH₂O‐, and long C₈H₁₇ soluble side chains substantially reduces the number of conformers (foldamers) compared with classic dendrimers built with longer flexible chains. This simplification assists in their spectroscopic and photophysical analysis, notably with respect to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Both steady‐state and time‐resolved spectroscopic measurements indicate that the cofacial free bases and the flanking zinc(II)–porphyrin antennas act as energy acceptor and donor, respectively, following excitation in either the Q or Soret bands of the dendrimers. The rate constants for singlet electronic energy transfer (k_EET) extracted from the S₁ and S₂ fluorescence lifetimes of the donor in the presence and absence of the acceptor are ≤ (0.1–0.3)×10⁹ and ～2×10⁹ s^?1 for S₁→S₁ (range from a bi‐exponential decay model) and about 1.5×10¹² s^?1 for S₂→S_n (n>1). Comparisons of these experimental data with those calculated from Förster theory using orientation factors and donor–acceptor distances extracted from computer modeling suggest that a highly restricted number of the many foldamers facilitate energy transfer. These foldamers have the lowest energy by molecular modeling and consist of one or at most two of the flanking zinc porphyrin antennas folded so they lie near the central artificial special pair core with the remaining antennas located almost parallel to and far from it.