Didemnins, tamandarins and related natural products

Since the discovery and isolation of the didemnin family of marine depsipeptides in 1981, the synthesis and biological activity of its congeners have been of great interest to the scientific community. The didemnins have demonstrated antitumor, antiviral, and immunosuppressive activity at low nano- and femtomolar levels. Of the congeners, didemnin B was the first marine natural product to reach phase II clinical trials in the United States, stimulating many analogue syntheses to date. About two decades later, tamandarins A and B were isolated, and were found to possess very similar structure and biological activity to that of the didemnin B. These compounds have shown impressive biological activity and some progress has been made in establishing structure-activity relationships. However, their molecular mechanism of action still remains unclear. This review highlights the long-standing study of didemnins and its critical application towards the understanding of the molecular mechanism of action of tamandarins and their potential use as therapeutic agents.     

X-ray diffraction,differential scanning calorimetric and spectroscopic studies of phase transitions in the bidimensional compound (C12H25NH3)2CdCl4

The existence of three main crystalline phases (called III, II and I) in (C₁₂H₂₅NH₃)₂CdCl₄ has been revealed by differential scanning calorimetry. X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic studies. The crystal- lographic evolution with increasing temperature appears to be monoclinic (III) → orthorhombic (II) → tetragonal (I). The low temperature phase III is the only ordered structure. The phase transition (III-II), which is of first order type, corresponds to an order-disorder mechanism involving the organic part of the structure (alkylammonium chains) whereas the phase transition (II-I), which is of second-order type, is related to the arrangement of the mineral matrix (octahedra of perovskite layers). An intermediate disordered form II', stable in a very narrow temperature range and structurally similar to the form II, has also been observed, so that the transformation (III-II) proceeds, in fact, in two steps (III-II'-II). The variation enthalpies observed at the transitions (III-II'-II) and analyzed through an order-disorder mechanism demonstrate the high disorder of the alkylammonium chains in form II, in agreement with spectroscopic results. No thermal anomaly or spectroscopic modification is observed for the high temperature transition (II-I).     

Atom transfer radical cyclization reactions (ATRC): synthetic applications

Atom transfer cyclization reactions (ATRC) provide rapid access to functionalized γ-butyrolactones.     

Synthesis of enantiopure dihydropyranones: aldol-based ring expansion of dihydrofurans

[reaction: see text] The stereoselective Birch reduction of 3-methyl-2-furoic acids using a readily available chiral auxilairy is described; by coupling this process to an oxidative cleavage/aldol ring closure sequence we were able to produce highly functionalized and enantiopure dihydropyranones in high yield. This sequence has ample flexibility built into it, either by the use of different electrophiles during reductive alkylation or by subsequent derivatization of the dihydropyranone after ring expansion.     

Benzimidazolediones. 1,4-addition reactions of 4,7-benzimidazoledione

A number of 1,4-addition reactions of 4,7-benzimidazoledione with hydrogen halides, thiols and amines are described.     

A new synthesis of benzo[f]ninhydrin

A new four step synthesis of benzo[f]ninhydrin is described. This method utilizes affordable, readily available materials and reagents and is amenable to large scale production.     

The conversion of a pyrrole trimer derivative into a 4,5,6,7‐tetra­hydro‐4‐­(pyrrol‐2‐yl)indol‐7‐yl­tosyl­aminoindole

Vilsmeier formyl­ation of trans‐1‐(4‐methyl­phenyl­sulfonyl)‐2,5‐bis(pyrrol‐2‐yl)­pyrrolidine leads to cleavage of the central ring then a reclosure resulting in the formation of trans‐N‐[2‐formyl‐4‐(5‐formyl­pyrrol‐2‐yl)‐4,5,6,7‐tetra­hydro­indol‐7‐yl]­toluene­sulfon­amide, C₂₁H₂₁N₃O₄S.     

4‐Methyl‐N‐[2‐(p‐tolylsulfanyl)phenyl]benzene­sulfonamide

The title compound, C₂₀H₁₉NO₂S₂, is formed by a palladium–copper‐catalyzed reaction between 4‐methyl‐N‐[2‐(prop‐2‐ynyl­sul­fanyl)­phenyl]­benzene­sul­fon­amide and p‐iodo­toluene. The mol­ecules contain three essentially planar parts, namely an amino­thio­phenol moiety (A), a toluene­sulfone moiety excluding the oxo ligands (B) and a tolyl group (C), approximately orthogonal to each other; the dihedral angles A/B, A/C and B/C are 111.6 (1), 89.3 (1) and 101.4 (1)°, respectively. Intermolecular N—H?O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into infinite one‐dimensional chains.     

Synthesis, structural and spectroscopic characterisation of three di-μ-fluoro-bis[dioxouranyl] complexes

Three novel uranyl complexes with organic phosphine oxide ligands and bridging fluorides have been synthesised and structurally characterised. In [ UO₂(μ-F)(TPPO)_{3 2}][BF₄]₂ · ⁿC₆H₁₄, 1, and [ UO₂(-μF)(TBPO)_{3 2}][BF₄]₂ 2, (where TPPO and TBPO are triphenylphosphine oxide and tri-n-butylphosphine oxide, respectively) two UO₂ ²⁺ moieties are bridged by two fluorides with three additional terminal PO donor ligands coordinated to each uranium centre. The dicationic complexes are both charge balanced by two uncoordinated tetrafluoroborate anions. In the related structure, [UO₂(μ-F)(F)(DPPMO₂)]₂ · 2MeOH (3), terminal fluoride is also coordinated to both uranyl centres (where DPPMO₂ = bis(diphenylphosphine oxide)methane). All three complexes were prepared during attempted syntheses of complexes with tetrafluoroborate directly coordinated to uranium. It is clear from these results that the fluorophilicity of UO₂ ²⁺ causes the abstraction of fluoride from [BF₄]⁻, with the weakly coordinating anion only present as a counter cation in 1 and 2, and absent completely in 3.