Efficient synthesis of [3H]-sanglifehrin A via selective oxidation/reduction of alcohols at C31 and C35

[Reaction: see text]. Sanglifehrin A is a novel complex natural product showing strong immunosuppressive activity and remarkably high affinity for cyclophilin A. To assess its pharmacokinetic properties in vivo, an efficient synthetic route was developed to introduce a tritium label in position C35 of sangliferin A via an oxidation/reduction strategy. The synthetic approach is particularly attractive, because the C35-oxo intermediate 7 is available in good yield on large scale and the reducing agent, lithium tri-sec-butylborotritide, is readily available. An attempt to apply a similar strategy to the alcohol in position C31 led primarily to C31-epi-hydroxy sanglifehrin A under a variety of conditions.     

Probing the Helical Secondary Structure of Short-Chain β-Peptides

Structural prerequisites for the stability of the 3₁ helix of β-peptides can be defined from inspection of models (Figs. 1 and 2): lateral non-H-substituents in 2- and 3-position on the 3-amino-acid residues of the helix are allowed, axial ones are forbidden. To be able to test this prediction, we synthesized a series of heptapeptide derivatives Boc-(β-HVal-β-HAla-β-HLeu-Xaa-β-HVal-β-HAla-β-HLeu)-OMe 13–22 (Xaa = α- or β-amino-acid residue) and a β-depsipeptide 25 with a central (S)-3-hydroxybutanoic-acid residue (Xaa = –OCH(Me)CH₂C(O)–) (Schemes 1 3). Detailed NMR analysis (DQF-COSY, HSQC, HMBC, ROESY, and TOCSY experiments) in methanol solution of the β-hexapeptide H(-β-HVal-β-HAla-β-HLeu)₂-OH ( 1 ) and of the β-heptapeptide H-β-HVal-β-HAla-β-HLeu-(S,S)-β-HAla(αMe)-β-HVal-β-HAla- β-HLeu-OH ( 22 ), with a central (2S,3S)-3-amino-2-methylbutanoic-acid residue, confirm the helical structure of such β-peptides (previously discovered in pyridine solution) (Fig.3 and Tables 1–5). The CD spectra of helical β-peptides, the residues of which were prepared by (retentive) Arndt-Eistert homologation of the (S)- or L -α-amino acids, show a trough at 215 nm. Thus, this characteristic pattern of the CD spectra was taken as an indicator for the presence of a helix in methanol solutions of compounds 13–22 and 25 (including partially and fully deprotected forms) (Figs.4–6). The results fully confirm predicted structural effects: incorporation of a single ‘wrong’ residue ((R)-β-HAla, β-HAib, (R,S)-β-HAla(α Me), or N-Me-β-HAla) in the central position of the β-heptapeptide derivatives A (see 17, 18, 20 , or 21 , resp.) causes the CD minimum to disappear. Also, the β-heptadepsipetide 25 (missing H-bond) and the β-heptapeptide analogs with a single α-amino-acid moiety in the middle ( 13 and 14 ) are not helical, according to this analysis. An interesting case is the heptapeptide 15 with the central achiral, unsubstituted 3-aminopropanoic-acid moiety: helical conformation appears to depend upon the presence or absence of terminal protection and upon the solvent (MeOH vs. MeOH/H₂O).     

Conformation and Relative Configuration of a Very Potent Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchoring Inhibitor with an Unusual Tricarbocyclic Sesterterpenoid δ-Lactone Skeleton from the Fungus Paecilomyces inflatus

In the course of our screening for glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) inhibitors, we found a fungal strain, Paecilomyces inflatus, which inhibited GPI anchoring in yeast. Bioassay-guided fractionation with gel filtration, MPLC on normal phase and prep. HPLC on reversed-phase yielded a minor secondary metabolite, the substituted hexadecahydroindeno[5′,6′:4,5]cycloocta[1,2-c]pyranyl heptanoate 1 , that inhibited GPI synthesis in vitro by yeast microsomes with a MIC of 3.4 nm. Ester 1 specifically inhibited GPI synthesis in eukaryotic, including mammalian cells, but had no significant activity in protozoa. Based on spectroscopic evidence, including UV, FT-IR, FAB-MS, ESI-HR-MS, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, DQ-COSY, ROESY, HSQC, and HMBC data, the metabolite 1 was shown to have an unusual tricarbocyclic sesterterpenoid δ-lactone skeleton. Its solution conformation and relative configuration was elucidated with ¹H,¹H coupling constants and detailed analysis of its ROESY data, coupled with inspection of Dreiding models. In the preliminary investigations on structure-activity relationships, the three derivatives 2 – 4 of ester 1 were prepared by acetylation, catalytic hydrogenation, and intramolecular alkene addition of a hydroxy group, respectively. The test results revealed that the modifications of substituents at the δ-lactone ring or of the C=C bonds of 1 caused a loss of activity by a factor of ca. 500 to 5000. Therefore, it seems that the δ-lactone ring and the C=C bonds in 1 are essential for the potent GPI-inhibitory activity.     

RNA-mediated sequestration of the RNA helicase eIF4A by Pateamine A inhibits translation initiation

Eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A) is a member of the DEAD-box family of putative RNA helicases whose members are involved in many aspects of RNA metabolism. eIF4A is thought to facilitate binding of 43S preinitiation complexes to mRNAs by unwinding secondary structures present in the 5' untranslated region. Pateamine A, a small-molecule inhibitor of translation initiation, acts in an unusual manner by stimulating eIF4A activity. Herein, we report the elucidation of pateamine's mode of action. We demonstrate that Pateamine A is a chemical inducer of dimerization that forces an engagement between eIF4A and RNA and prevents eIF4A from participating in the ribosome-recruitment step of translation initiation.     

Interplay between electronic correlations and coherent structural dynamics during the monoclinic insulator-to-rutile metal phase transition in VO2

We report direct observations of the structural and electronic dynamics of the photoinduced insulator-metal transition in VO(2), by means of time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. These observations provide new insights into the processes involved in this transition. Slightly above the threshold of the photoinduced phase transition, the different response times of the electrons and the lattice reveal the electronic nature of the band gap collapse. At high excitation densities, we find that the phase transition is induced nonthermally in an ultrashort time scale. Moreover, we identify different V 3p dynamics indicating the existence of different structural pathways. These results represent a clear demonstration of the potential of time-resolved core level photoelectron spectroscopy to study ultrafast dynamics in condensed matter.     

Pure-phase selective excitation in fast-relaxing systems

Selective pulses have been used frequently for small molecules. However, their application to proteins and other macromolecules has been limited. The long duration of shaped-selective pulses and the short T(2) relaxation times in proteins often prohibited the use of highly selective pulses especially on larger biomolecules. A very selective excitation can be obtained within a short time by using the selective excitation sequence presented in this paper. Instead of using a shaped low-intensity radiofrequency pulse, a cluster of hard 90 degrees pulses, delays of free precession, and pulsed field gradients can be used to selectively excite a narrow chemical shift range within a relatively short time. Thereby, off-resonance magnetization, which is allowed to evolve freely during the free precession intervals, is destroyed by the gradient pulses. Off-resonance excitation artifacts can be removed by random variation of the interpulse delays. This leads to an excitation profile with selectivity as well as phase and relaxation behavior superior to that of commonly used shaped-selective pulses. Since the evolution of scalar coupling is inherently suppressed during the double-selective excitation of two different scalar-coupled nuclei, the presented pulse cluster is especially suited for simultaneous highly selective excitation of N-H and C-H fragments. Experimental examples are demonstrated on hen egg white lysozyme (14 kD) and the bacterial antidote ParD (19 kD).     

Quality control in combinatorial chemistry: determinations of amounts and comparison of the "purity" of LC-MS-purified samples by NMR, LC-UV and CLND

The absolute purities of 20 purified samples from a combinatorial library have been determined by a new method that uses the DMSO sidebands [1J[13C-1H]] as an internal standard for quantification. The obtained absolute amounts are compared with the amounts of sample obtained by weighing, with the calculated weights obtained by chemiluminescent nitrogen detection (CLND) chromatography and with the relative purities obtained by LC-UV chromatography.     

‘Mixed’ β-peptides: A unique helical secondary structure in solution. Preliminary communication

β-Hexapeptides 1–5 and a β-dodecapeptide 6 with sequences containing two different types of β-amino acids (aliphatic proteinageous side chains in the 2- or in the 3-position) have been prepared. CD (Fig. 1) and NMR measurements indicate that, with one exception, the secondary structures formed by these new β-peptides differ from those of isomers studied previously. Detailed NMR analysis of the β-hexapeptide 5 (with alternating β²,β³-building blocks) and molecular-dynamics simulations have produced a minimum energy conformation (Fig. 2,b)which might be described as a novel irregular helix containing ten- and twelve-membered H-bonded rings. This demonstrates the great structural variability of β-peptides, since three different helical secondary structures have been discovered to date.