Bioinspired total synthesis and human proteasome inhibitory activity of (-)-salinosporamide A, (-)-homosalinosporamide A, and derivatives obtained via organonucleophile promoted bis-cyclizations

A full account of concise, enantioselective syntheses of the anticancer agent (-)-salinosporamide A and derivatives, including (-)-homosalinosporamide, that was inspired by biosynthetic considerations is described. The brevity of the synthetic strategy stems from a key bis-cyclization of a β-keto tertiary amide, which retains optical purity enabled by A(1,3)-strain rendering slow epimerization relative to the rate of bis-cyclization. Optimization studies of the key bis-cyclization, enabled through byproduct isolation and characterization, are described that ultimately allowed for a gram scale synthesis of a versatile bicyclic core structure with a high degree of stereoretention. An optimized procedure for zincate generation by the method of Knochel, generally useful for the synthesis of salino A derivatives, led to dramatic improvements in side-chain attachment and a novel diastereomer of salino A. The versatility of the described strategy is demonstrated by the synthesis of designed derivatives including (-)-homosalinosporamide A. Inhibition of the human 20S and 26S proteasome by these derivatives using an enzymatic assay are also reported. The described total synthesis of salino A raises interesting questions regarding how biosynthetic enzymes leading to the salinosporamides proceeding via optically active β-keto secondary amides, are able to maintain the stereochemical integrity at the labile C2 stereocenter or if a dynamic kinetic resolution is operative.