Synthesis of 2-D-L-tryptophan by sequential Ir-catalyzed reactions

Herein, we report a practical synthesis of 2-D-l-tryptophan via sequential Ir-catalyzed CH borylation, and Ir-catalyzed C-2-deborylative deuteration steps. In this synthetic sequence, deprotection of the Boc and methyl ester groups proved challenging, due to replacement of deuterium with hydrogen. However, mild deprotection conditions were developed to avoid this D/H scrambling. Further, 2-D-L-Tryptophan is stable in many buffers used for biological studies.     

Low-temperature synthesis of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds using polyaphron templates

A method to synthesize porous hydroxyapatite (HA) structures at a low temperature was investigated in this study. Polyaphrons, a class of high-internal-phase-ratio emulsions were used as the shape-directing template for the sol-gel reactions that facilitated the formation of the structures. Electron micrographs revealed a three dimensional porous structure with pore sizes in the range of 1–5 microns. X-ray diffraction images showed that the hydroxyapatite structure formed after treatment at 400°C matched exactly with commercial HA spectra indicating that the phase transformation was complete. IR spectra of the samples confirm the formation of the structural components characteristic of commercial HA.     

Biomimetic synthesis of the antimalarial flindersial alkaloids

A biomimetic strategy for the synthesis of the antimalarial flindersial alkaloids is described. Flinderoles A, B, and C, desmethylflinderole C, isoborreverine, and dimethylisoborreverine were all synthesized in three steps from tryptamine. The key step is an acid-promoted dimerization of the natural product borrerine. This approach is thought to mirror the biosynthesis of these compounds.     

Rate Dependence on Inductive and Resonance Effects for the Organocatalyzed Enantioselective Conjugate Addition of Alkenyl and Alkynyl Boronic Acids to β-Indolyl Enones and β-Pyrrolyl Enones

Two key factors bear on reaction rates for the conjugate addition of alkenyl boronic acids to heteroaryl-appended enones: the proximity of inductively electron-withdrawing heteroatoms to the site of bond formation and the resonance contribution of available heteroatom lone pairs to stabilize the developing positive charge at the enone β-position. For the former, the closer the heteroatom is to the enone β-carbon, the faster the reaction. For the latter, greater resonance stabilization of the benzylic cationic charge accelerates the reaction. Thus, reaction rates are increased by the closer proximity of inductive electron-withdrawing elements, but if resonance effects are involved, then increased rates are observed with electron-donating ability. Evidence for these trends in isomeric substrates is presented, and the application of these insights has allowed for reaction conditions that provide improved reactivity with previously problematic substrates.     

Enantioseparation of flinderoles and borreverines by HPLC on Chirobiotic V and V2 stationary phases and by CE using cyclodextrin selectors

Racemic mixtures of the promising anti-malarial bisindole alkoids, flinderole A–C, desmethyl flinderole C, borreverine and isoborreverine, are baseline-separated for the first time by HPLC using vancomycin-based stationary phases and partially separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE) using cyclodextrin selectors. The HPLC results compare the performance of Chirobiotic V and V2 in the polar organic and reversed phase modes and their complementary selectivity is discussed. The performance of the cyclodextrin selectors in CE, while less effective, are discussed in terms of their selectivity in normal and reversed polarity modes.     

On the biosynthesis and optical activity of the flinderoles

A proposed biosynthesis of the flinderoles described herein would produce racemic compounds through nonenzymatic dimerization of borrerine. However, an initial report of optical activity for natural flinderoles is inconsistent with that hypothesis as well as the racemic production of similar natural products. Herein, pure enantiomers of flinderole B were obtained and the specific rotations thereof were found to be significantly different from those in the original report, which were taken at low concentrations. These new data remove the inconsistency arising from the original data.     

Ca(II)-catalyzed diastereoselective formal [4+2] annulation of a 3-component solvent-free povarov reaction

Diastereoselective, three-component annulation reaction involving glyoxals, anilines and dienophiles is developed under calcium catalysis. When indene is the dienophile, the reaction gave excellent diastereoselectivity to yield tetrahydro-indenoquinolines, these were further aromatized to get indenoquinolines in one-pot. Aryl acetylenes are used as dienophiles to get 2-acyl quinolines in good yields.     

An EDC-based turbulent premixed combustion model

In the present study, a new turbulent premixed combustion model is proposed by integrating the Coherent Flame Model with the modified eddy dissipation concept, and relating the fine structure mass fraction to the flame surface density. First, experimental results of turbulent flame speed available from literature are compared with the predicted results at different turbulence intensities to validate the flame surface density model. It is observed that the model is able to predict the turbulent burning speeds accurately. Then, a comprehensive validation is carried out utilizing data on a turbulent lifted methane flame issuing into a vitiated co-flow. Detailed comparison of temperature and species concentrations between experiment and simulation is performed at different heights of the flame. Overall, the model is found to predict both the spatial variation and peak values of the scalars at various heights satisfactorily.     

Regioselective annulation of propargyl alcohols with ambident-enols: A Ca(II)-catalyzed trisubstituted benzochromene synthesis

Highly regioselective, 6-endo cyclization between propargyl alcohols and ambident enols such as naphthols, 4-hydroxy coumarin, cyclohexane-1,3-dione, 5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione is described using Ca(OTf)₂ under solvent free conditions. The reaction proceeds through a cascade annulation which involves an etherification, Claisen type rearrangement, allene formation and endocyclization. Further, we extended this method to the synthesis of iodo-derivative and demonstrated the reactivity in cross-coupling reactions.