Febantel: looking for new polymorphs

The aim of this work was to search for new polymorphic forms of febantel, an anthelminthic drug of great present interest for the veterinary industry. Solvent-based recrystallization, thermal and mechanical treatments and spray drying were chosen to discover new solid forms. The solids obtained were physicochemically characterized by thermal techniques (DSC and TG), FTIR spectroscopy, laboratory and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Our work leads to obtain a new solid form never described in the literature. In particular, the new polymorph was obtained by the anti-solvent method and the crystallization from isopropanol. The experimental conditions of crystallization favorable to the formation of the highest amount of the new solid phase were selected. The new phase shows a thermal, spectroscopic and diffractometric behavior unique. Furthermore, the preliminary structure investigation suggests two possible crystal systems: an orthorhombic or a monoclinic one, with really comparable lattice parameters and cell volume. Measurements put into evidence that the new phase is a metastable polymorph that is in monotropic relationship with the stable and known form.

     

New heterocyclic structures. [1,2,5]Thiadiazolo[3′,4′:4,5]pyrimido-[2,1-b][1,3]thiazine and thiazolo[3,2a][1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine

Derivatives of two new molecular structures, namely, 7,8-dihydro-6H,10H-[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3′,4′:4,5]pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]thiazin-10-one and 6,7-dihydro-9H-thiazolo[3,2-a][1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-d][pyrimidin-9-one, and derivatives of N-substituted sulfamic acid, namely, (8-amino-3,4-dihydro-2H,6H-pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]thiazin-6-on-7-yl)sulfamic acid and (7-amino-2,3-dihydro-5H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-on-6-yl)sulfamic acid, were separated out as by-products in the reduction reaction of 8-amino-3,4-dihydro-7-nitroso-2H,6H-pyrimido[2,1- b][1,3]thiazin-6-one and 7-amino-2,3-dihydro-6-nitroso-5H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-one derivatives, respectively, with sodium hydrosulfite. A mechanism of reaction, which hypothesizes the action of sodium hydrosulfite in an asymmetic form, is proposed. The results of single-crystal X-ray investigation on 7,8-dihydro-6H,10H-[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3′,4′:4,5]pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]thiazin-10-one (R = 0.032 for 863 reflections) and (8-amino-3,4-dihydro-2H,6H-pyrimido[2,1-b]- [1,3]thiazin-6-on-7-yl)sulfamic acid, sodium salt (R = 0.028 for 3507 reflections) are reported.     

Synthesis of hydroxystilbenes and their derivatives via Heck reaction

A group of differently substituted acetoxy- and methoxystilbenes were synthesised via Heck reaction. A comparison between the use--as coupling reagents--of iodobenzene derivatives and diazonium salts was performed. A successful microwave-assisted demethylation by pyridine hydrochloride of some methoxystilbenes was carried out.     

The cavity elongation effect. Calorimetric studies of the complexes of long-chain carboxylic acids with methyl-α-cyclodextrin in aqueous solutions

The formation of complexes between methyl-α-cyclodextrin (MαCD) and monocarboxylic acids from C₅ to C₁₂ or cycloalkanols has been studied calorimetrically at 298 K in aqueous phosphate buffer, pH 11.3. The forces involved in the association process are discussed according to the signs and values of the thermodynamic parameters obtained: association enthalpy, constant, Gibbs energy and entropy. Methyl-α-cyclodextrin forms 1:1 inclusion complexes with monocarboxylic acids, characterized by a monotonous increase in the values of enthalpies and association constants at increasing alkyl chain length. Association is characterized by negative enthalpies and by positive entropies: that determines large association constants. That behaviour is compared to the unusual trend in the values of the association constants shown by the parent α-cyclodextrin interacting␣with the same monocarboxylic acids. The model proposed to rationalize the present data provides a cavity elongation effect. Namely, because of the presence of the methyl groups on the outside, the cavity behaves as it were deeper than that of the parent cyclodextrin. The association with cycloalkanols—cyclohexanol, cycloheptanol, cyclooctanol and 1-cylohexyl-ethanol—is characterized by lower entropies, as determined by the␣enhanced negative contribution originating from the␣tighter fit of the guest into the cavity.     

Organocatalytic asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with simple alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones

[structure: see text]. The first general and highly enantioselective organocatalytic Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with simple alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones has been accomplished. Central to these studies has been the identification of a new catalyst amine salt, in which both the cation and the anion are chiral, that exhibits high reactivity and selectivity for iminium ion catalysis.     

Thermodynamics and kinetics of the nickel(II)-salicylhydroxamic acid system. Phenol rotation induced by metal ion binding

The kinetics and the equilibria of Ni(II) binding to p-hydroxybenzohydroxamic acid (PHBHA) and salicylhydroxamic acid (SHA) have been investigated in an aqueous solution at 25 degrees C and I=0.2 M by the stopped-flow method. Two reaction paths involving metal binding to the neutral acid and to its anion have been observed. Concerning PHBHA, the rate constants of the forward and reverse steps are k1=(1.9+/-0.1)x10(3) M-1 s-1 and k-1=(1.1+/-0.1)x10(2) s-1 for the step involving the undissociated PHBHA and k2=(3.2+/-0.2)x10(4) M-1 s-1 and k-2=1.2+/-0.2 s-1 for the step involving the anion. Concerning SHA, the analogous rate constants are k1=(2.6+/-0.1)x10(3) M-1 s-1, k-1=(1.3+/-0.1)x10(3) s-1, k2=(5.4+/-0.2)x10(3) M-1 s-1, and k-2=6.3+/-0.5 s-1. These values indicate that metal binding to the anions of the two acids concurs with the Eigen-Wilkins mechanism and that the phenol oxygen is not involved in the chelation. Moreover, a slow effect was observed in the SHA-Ni(II) system, which has been put down to rotation of the benzene ring around the C-C bond. Quantum mechanical calculations at the B3LYP/lanL2DZ level reveal that the phenol group in the most stable form of the Ni(II) chelate is in trans position relative to the carbonyl oxygen, contrary to the free SHA structure, where the phenol and carbonyl oxygen atoms both have cis configuration. These results bear out the idea that the complex formation is coupled with phenol rotation around the C-C bond.     

Organocatalytic asymmetric hydrophosphination of nitroalkenes

The use of a bifunctional Cinchona alkaloid catalyst has provided a new organocatalytic strategy for the enantioselective addition of diphenylphosphine to a range of nitroalkenes, affording optically active beta-nitrophosphines (up to 99% ee after crystallization); this organocatalytic approach, providing a direct route to a new class of potentially useful enantiopure P,N-ligands, constitutes a bridge between the two complementary areas of asymmetric catalysis: organo- and metal-catalyzed transformations.     

A Semisynthetic Approach to New Immunoadjuvant Candidates: Site‐Selective Chemical Manipulation of Escherichia coli Monophosphoryl Lipid A

A semisynthetic approach to novel lipid A derivatives from Escherichia coli (E. coli) lipid A is reported. This methodology stands as an alternative to common approaches based exclusively on either total synthesis or extraction from bacterial sources. It relies upon the purification of the lipid A fraction from fed‐batch fermentation of E. coli, followed by its structural modification through tailored, site‐selective chemical reactions. In particular, modification of the lipid pattern and functionalization of the phosphate group as well as of the sole primary hydroxyl group were accomplished, highlighting the unusual reactivity of the molecule. Preliminary investigations of the immunostimulating activity of the new semisynthetic lipid A derivatives show that some of them stand out as promising, new immunoadjuvant candidates.     

S‐Trifluoromethylation of Thiols by Hypervalent Iodine Reagents: A Joint Experimental and Computational Study

The radical trifluoromethylation of thiophenol in condensed phase applying reagent 1 (3,3‐dimethyl‐1‐(trifluoromethyl)‐1λ³,2‐benziodoxol) has been examined by both theoretical and experimental methodologies. On the basis of ab initio molecular dynamics and metadynamics we show that radical reaction mechanisms favourably compete with polar ones involving the S‐centred nucleophile thiophenol, their free energies of activation, ΔF^≠, lying between 9 and 15 kcal mol^?1. We further show that the origin of the proton activating the reagent is important. Hammett plot analysis reveals intramolecular protonation of 1 , thus generating negative charge on the sulfur atom in the rate‐determining step. The formation of a CF₃ radical can be thermally induced by internal dissociative electron transfer, its activation energy, ΔF^≠, amounting to as little as 10.8 and 2.8 kcal mol^?1 for reagent 1 and its protonated form 2 , respectively. The reduction of the iodine atom by thiophenol occurs either subsequently or in a concerted fashion.