Importance of Baylis-Hillman adducts in modern drug discovery

The Baylis-Hillman (BH) reaction plays a fascinating role in the field of synthetic and medicinal chemistry. BH adducts and their derivatives have been used as crucial synthons for the synthesis of various pharmaceutically useful natural products and compounds with carbocyclic or heterocyclic frameworks. This digest letter aims to discuss some key ideas for the synthesis of biologically active scaffolds using BH reaction and raise the awareness of this emerging research domain in modern drug discovery. In this review, we will present and discuss recent reports of various biologically active scaffolds derived from BH reaction, and their reported biological activities.     

Organocatalytic enantioselective transformations involving quinone derivatives as reaction partners

This digest summarizes the recent progress made in the organocatalytic asymmetric reactions involving 1,4-quinone derivatives. The roles of quinones as Michael donors, Michael acceptors, dienophiles, 1,3-dipolarophiles and cascade reaction partners have been extensively investigated to access complex structural frameworks in the presence of chiral amine catalysts, phosphoric acid catalysts, bifunctional catalysts (Cinchona alkaloids- and thiourea-based), carboxylic acid catalysts, boronic acid catalysts and cationic oxazaborolidinium ions.     

Synthesis of cis- and trans-(±)-3-mercaptoproline and pipecolic acid derivatives via thio-Michael addition

The reactivity of 2,3-dehydroproline and 2,3-dehydropipecolic acid methyl ester derivatives with S-nucleophiles in the thio-Michael addition reaction has been explored. The addition of triphenylmethanethiol and subsequent trityl cleavage led to the corresponding cis- and trans-(±)-3-mercaptoproline and pipecolic acid derivatives in good yields.     

Determination of ligand efficiency indices in a group of 7H‐purine‐2,6‐dione derivatives with psychotropic activity using micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Discovering hit compounds and optimization processes in medicinal chemistry nowadays could be improved by predictive tools, based on the relationship between structure of molecules and lipophilic properties. Lipophilicity of drug candidate can affect both the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics properties, in particular, the ability of a molecule to cross the cell membrane. Among the new methods for determination of the lipophilicity of compounds, micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) is considered to be an appropriate one for bioactive molecules, as it closely mimics the physiological conditions. In this paper MEKC was used for the estimation of the lipophilicity of 24 derivatives of 8‐alkoxy‐7H‐purine‐2,6‐dione, designed and synthesized as potential antidepressant/anxiolytic and antipsychotic agents. The results of experimental method were compared with calculated in silico parameters (AlogPs and milogP by Virtual Computational Laboratory website, log P_Pallas by Pallas 3.1, Mlog P by Marvin, log P_ChemS by ChemSketch, log P_ChemDraw by ChemBioUltra) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. Finally, using estimated log P values for selected compounds ligand – lipophilicity efficiency (LLE), per cent efficiency index (PEI), and binding efficiency index (BEI) parameters were calculated. Applied MEKC procedure could be used for selection of potential lead structure in a group of 7H‐purine‐2,6‐dione derivatives.     

Enantioselective separation of twelve pairs of enantiomers on polysaccharide‐based chiral stationary phases and thermodynamic analysis of separation mechanism

The enantioseparation of twelve pairs of structurally related 1‐aryl‐1‐indanone derivatives was studied in the normal‐phase mode using three different polysaccharide‐type chiral stationary phases, namely Chiralpak IB, Chiralpak IC, and Chiralpak ID. n‐Hexane/2‐propanol and n‐hexane/ethanol were employed as mobile phases. Among all the investigated chiral columns, Chiralpak IC exhibited the most universal and the best enantioseparation ability toward all the racemates, particularly with the mobile phase composed of n‐hexane/2‐propanol (90/10, v/v). Then the effects of column temperature on retention and enantioselectivity were examined in the range of 25–40°C. Satisfactory enantioseparation was obtained at ambient temperature. The natural logarithm of retention and separation factors (ln k and ln α) versus the reciprocal of absolute temperature (1/T) (Van't Hoff plots) were found to be linear for all racemates, indicating that the retention and separation mechanisms were independent of temperature in the range investigated. Then, the thermodynamic parameters (ΔΔH°, ΔΔS°, and ΔΔG°) were calculated from Van't Hoff plots. These values indicated that the solute transfer from the mobile to stationary phase was enthalpically favorable, and the process of enantioseparation was mainly enthalpy controlled. At last, the impact of small changes in molecular structures of the tested 1‐indanone derivatives on enantioseparation was also discussed.     

Ferric nitrate-promoted oxidative esterification of toluene with N-hydroxyphthalimide: Synthesis of N-hydroxyimide esters

A ferric nitrate-promoted cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction of N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) with toluene derivatives is reported. The reaction proceeded smoothly using molecular oxygen as an oxidant, providing an efficient method for the synthesis of N-hydroxyimide esters. Furthermore, a plausible mechanism was proposed.     

Induced secondary metabolites from the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor through bacterial co-culture and OSMAC approaches

Two new cryptic 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-(2H)-1-one (1-tetralone) derivatives, aspvanicin A (1) and its epimer aspvanicin B (2), as well as several known cryptic metabolites (3–8), were obtained from the ethyl acetate extract of the co-culture of the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor KU258497 with the bacterium Bacillus subtilis 168 trpC2 on solid rice medium. When A. versicolor was cultured axenically in liquid Wickerham medium supplemented with 3.5% DMSO, an additional three known secondary metabolites (9–11) were isolated that were lacking when the fungus was fermented on rice medium. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated using one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy as well as HRESIMS. The relative and absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were determined by the combination of NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis aided by DFT conformational analysis and TDDFT-ECD calculations. The ECD calculations revealed that although the sign of the blue-shifted overlapping n-π¹ ECD transition follows the helicity rule of cyclic aryl ketones, the calculation of low-energy conformers and ECD spectra was necessary to determine the stereochemistry. All metabolites were assessed for their antibacterial and cytotoxic activities; one of the new diastereomers, compound 2, showed moderate cytotoxic activity against the mouse lymphoma cell line L5178Y.     

高温水中2,3-二氢喹唑啉-4(1H)-酮衍生物的合成反应研究

为发展绿色化学,减少化学反应中有毒害溶剂的使用,本文以高温水为溶剂,在未使用任何有机溶剂及催化剂的条件下,以2-氨基苯甲酰胺与醛为底物,成功合成了2,3-二氢喹唑啉-4(1H)-酮衍生物。研究了反应温度、反应时间及芳环上取代基对反应的影响。在摩尔比1∶1、温度为130℃、反应时间1h的优化条件下,收率为32. 4%～85. 7%。     

新型3,5-二取代1H-吲哚衍生物的合成及抗肿瘤活性研究

新型抗肿瘤药物研究是全球药物开发的重点任务之一。鉴于前期我们发现3,5-二取代1H-吲哚衍生物具有明显抗胰腺癌活性,本文通过维尔斯迈尔-哈克反应、仲胺的叔丁氧羰基(Boc)保护、醛还原、羧酸与胺的缩合等反应获得了一条高效简洁的3-取代硫甲基-5-酰氨基吲哚衍生物合成路线,并合成了8个新化合物11a~11h。经细胞活性测试发现,它们对胰腺癌细胞株BxPC-3均有较好抑制活性,其中11e活性最高,IC_(50)为2.28μmol/L。对多种肿瘤细胞及人正常肝细胞HL-7702的抑制活性测试表明,11e为特异性BxPC-3抑制剂而非细胞毒化合物。鉴于此,11e可能是一个较好的抗胰腺癌苗头化合物,值得进一步深入研究。     

Conformational search and spectroscopic analysis of bis-β-d-glucopyranosyl azacrown derivative

1,10-N,N′-bis-(β-d-ureidoglucopyranosyl)-4,7,13-trioxa-1,10-diazacyclopentadecane is a new, recently synthesized compound, which exhibits complexation ability towards drugs. In the present study various theoretical methods, including molecular mechanics, computer simulations, semiempirical and DFT calculations, are applied to find the lowest energy conformers of this molecule in vacuo and in aqueous solution. For the most stable structures the vibrational frequencies as well as the C and H chemical shifts were computed. Along with the theoretical investigation the IR in the KBr discs and the NMR spectra in water and in pyridine were experimentally recorded. It is shown that in the lowest energy structures the two glucosyl units are placed on the same side of the diazacrown ring with their mutual orientations favoring formation of hydrogen bonds. The “open” structure, in which no such hydrogen bonds can be formed, is found to have much higher energy. The computed and measured IR spectra and NMR chemical shifts are compared and discussed in detail. The most stable structures are analyzed with respect to the possible mechanism of complexation of drugs.