Ketone synthesis under neutral conditions. Cu(I) diphenylphosphinate-mediated,palladium-catalyzed coupling of thiol esters and organostannanes

[reaction: see text] A versatile approach to ketone synthesis is described. The reaction relies on the palladium-catalyzed, copper diphenylphosphinate-mediated coupling of thiol esters with organostannanes under neutral reaction conditions. This reaction complements the previously described coupling of thiol esters with boronic acids that used dual thiophilic-borophilic activation methodology.     

Functionalized Polymers-Emerging Versatile Tools for Solution-Phase Chemistry and Automated Parallel Synthesis

As part of the dramatic changes associated with the need for preparing compound libraries in pharmaceutical and agrochemical research laboratories, industry searches for new technologies that allow for the automation of synthetic processes. Since the pioneering work by Merrifield polymeric supports have been identified to play a key role in this field however, polymer-assisted solution-phase synthesis which utilizes immobilized reagents and catalysts has only recently begun to flourish. Polymer-assisted solution-phase synthesis has various advantages over conventional solution-phase chemistry, such as the ease of separation of the supported species from a reaction mixture by filtration and washing, the opportunity to use an excess of the reagent to force the reaction to completion without causing workup problems, and the adaptability to continuous-flow processes. Various strategies for employing functionalized polymers stoichiometrically have been developed. Apart from reagents that are covalently or ionically attached to the polymeric backbone and which are released into solution in the presence of a suitable substrate, scavenger reagents play an increasingly important role in purifying reaction mixtures. Employing functionalized polymers in solution-phase synthesis has been shown to be extremely useful in automated parallel synthesis and multistep sequences. So far, compound libraries containing as many as 88 members have been generated by using several polymer-bound reagents one after another. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that complex natural products like the alkaloids (+/-)-oxomaritidine and (+/-)-epimaritidine can be prepared by a sequence of five and six consecutive polymer-assisted steps, respectively, and the potent analgesic compound (+/-)-epibatidine in twelve linear steps ten of which are based on functionalized polymers. These developments reveal the great future prospects of polymer-assisted solution-phase synthesis.     

Short-chain alcohols promote accelerated membrane distention in a dynamic liposome model of exocytosis

We have used amperometric measurements in a model system consisting of two liposomes connected with a membrane nanotube to monitor catechol release during artificial exocytosis and thereby to elucidate the effect of small-chain alcohols on this dynamic membrane process. To determine the rate of membrane shape change, catechol release during membrane distention was monitored amperometrically, and the presence of alcohols in the buffer was shown to accelerate the membrane distention process in a concentration-dependent manner. Compression isotherms for the same lipid composition in the absence and presence of ethanol and 1-propanol were measured to determine how these short-chain alcohols affect the lipid packing in monolayers. The isotherms show a marked decrease in lipid packing density that is dependent on the particular alcohol and its concentration. Comparison of the electrochemical and isotherm results suggests a correlation between decreasing lipid packing density and increasing rates of membrane shape change.     

Cucurbit[6]uril dimer induces supramolecular polymerisation of a cationic polyethylene glycol derivative

Recently, we reported the synthesis of two new dimeric cucurbit[6]uril compounds (1 and 2). Herein, we describe the ability of compound 1 to undergo supramolecular polymerisation when combined with polyethylene glycol (PEG) derived divalent guests 3_MW (MW = 300, 1000, 3350, 10,000). Interestingly, we find that the shorter PEG-derived guests 3₃₀₀, 3₁₀₀₀ and 3₃₃₅₀ lead to low degrees of oligomerisation based on the diffusion coefficients obtained by diffusion-ordered spectroscopy measurements. In contrast, when 1 was combined with the longest PEG-derived guest 3_10,000, we observed the formation of a supramolecular polymer with a degree of oligomerisation of at least 36. We observe that the supramolecular polymer 1_n·(3_10,000)n undergoes a slow decrease in its degree of oligomerisation to 22 over the course of 14 days controlled by the slow dissociation rate constant of the hexanediammonium unit of 3_10,000 from the CB[6]-sized cavity of 1.     

Towards the total synthesis of tonantzitlolone--preparation of key fragments and the complete carbon backbone

The first synthetic advances towards the novel diterpenoid tonantzitlolone 1 are described. The key steps in the synthesis involve a chromium(II) Reformatsky reaction, a diastereoselective C₁ extension and an expeditious aldol coupling step of two advanced precursors.