Conformational preferences for 3-piperideines: an Ab initio and molecular mechanics study

The stereochemistry of N-methyl and aryl substituents determine the biological activities of 3-aryl-8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]oct-2,3-enes

Aryl substituted tropanes and their 2,3-ene analogs are highly selective inhibitors of monoamine uptake. The solution structures of a series of aryl tropanes were determined using NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling to identify conformational preferences that may determine the overall activity. The majority of these analogs undergo nitrogen inversion, and the rate of interconversion between the axial and equatorial N-methyl conformers is fast on the NMR timescale at room temperature but slow between 217 and 243 K allowing us to determine the thermodynamic parameters of interconversion using dynamic and magnetization transfer NMR. The biological activities correlate strongly with the nature and the orientation of the aryl group. The relative orientation of the N-methyl further modulates the activity by directly influencing the ligand interaction in the protein binding pocket and/or by forcing a favorable orientation for the aryl substituent to fit in the binding pocket.

Barrenazine A and B; two new cytotoxic alkaloids from an unidentified tunicate

[structure: see text] Two novel compounds, barrenazine A (1) and B (2), were isolated from an unidentified tunicate collected at Barren Islands, Madagascar. The two new compounds are of an unprecedented heterocyclic skeleton, namely 1,3,4,6,8,9-hexahydrodipyridino[3,4-b:3',4'-e]pyrazine. The structures of the two alkaloids were elucidated by interpretation of MS, COSY, HMQC, HMBC, NOESY, and (15)N-HMBC data. Barrenazine A exhibits mild cytotoxicity against LOVO-DOX colon carcinoma (with a GI(50) value of 0.9 g/mL)

Conformational dynamics in nitrogen-fused azabicycles

Using molecular mechanics (MM3 force field)-based methodology, conformational dynamics have been studied for 1-azabicyclo[2.2.0]hexane, 1-azabicylo[3.3.0]octane, and 1-azabicylo[4.4.0]decane. Obtained conformational schemes describe the flexibity of these parent azabicyles as well as permit us to estimate conformational mobility in related N-fused systems. Quantum mechanics ab initio calculations have been used in order to check the reliability of molecular mechanics-provided estimates of relative energy of conformers. The previous dynamic NMR (DNMR) data have been reinterpreted for some polycyclic alkaloids.

Nitrogen inversion in cyclic amines and the bicyclic effect

The hitherto unsolved problem of the origin of the unusually high nitrogen inversion-rotation (NIR) barriers in 7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes (the bicyclic effect) was examined using the natural bond orbital (NBO) approach. Reinvestigating the NIR barrier for tropane by DNMR, we found that NIR barriers increase smoothly on going from nitrogen-bridged bicyclic systems of a larger ring size to the smaller ring homologous systems. The experimental NIR barriers are reproduced with good accuracy using the MP2/6-31G level of theory. The NBO analysis for these and other azabicycles led to the conclusion that the height of these barriers is mostly determined by the energy of the sigma-orbitals of the C(alpha)(-)C(beta) bonds as well as the nitrogen lone pair. Thus, the bicyclic effect is actually an extreme case of a common C(alpha-)N-C(alpha) tripyramid geometry-NIR barrier dependence for N-bridged bicyclic amines. By establishing the rate-determining role of the C(alpha-)N-C(alpha) tripyramid fragment for NIR, we have derived the first sufficiently accurate quantitative correlations amine geometry-NIR barrier for monocyclic as well as bicyclic N-H and N-Me amines (i.e., for an amine set which also includes the bicyclic effect systems).