Branching Cascades: A Concise Synthetic Strategy Targeting Diverse and Complex Molecular Frameworks

Sequential annulation and isomerisation reaction of 3-acylmethylidene oxindoles with Huisgen zwitterions and synthesis of 5-(3-oxindolyl)oxazoles

Herein, we report a facile synthesis of 5-(3-oxindolyl)oxazole derivatives via a sequential annulation and isomerisation reaction of 3-acylmethylidene oxindoles with in situ generated Huisgen zwitterions (HZs) from PPh3 and azodicarboxylates. This reaction exhibits good functional group tolerance with 30 examples of structurally diverse products prepared with moderate to good efficiencies (up to 88% yield), thus providing a generally applicable route to the biologically important 5-(3-indolyl)oxazole structural motifs. Key to the success of this sequential one-pot strategy is the utilization of DBU as a base to promote the isomerisation process of the corresponding intermediate annulation products.

Dual Functional Pd-Catalyzed Multicomponent Reaction by Umpolung Chemistry of the Oxygen Atom in Electrophiles

A Pd-catalyzed multicomponent reaction was developed by trapping oxomium ylide with nitrosobenzene via Pd-promoted umpolung chemistry. The Pd catalyst plays two important roles: diazo compound decomposed catalyst and Lewis acid for the activation of nitrosobenzene. This strategy provides some insight into a new way for discovery of multicomponent methodology to construct complex molecules. The developed method also provides rapid access to a series of O-(2-oxy) hydroxylamine derivatives, which exhibit good anticancer activity in osteosarcoma cells.

Hypothetical control of postural sway

Quiet standing exhibits strongly intermittent variability that has inspired at least two interpretations. First, variability can be intermittent through the alternating engagement and disengagement of complementary control processes at distinct scales. A second and perhaps deeper way to interpret this intermittency is through the possibility that postural control depends on cascade-like interactions across many timescales at once, suggesting specific non-Gaussian distributional properties at different timescales. Multiscale probability density function (PDF) analysis shows that quiet standing on a stable surface exhibits a crossover from low, increasing non-Gaussianity (consistent with exponential distributions) at shorter timescales, reflecting inertial control, towards higher non-Gaussianity. Feedback-based control at medium to longer timescales yields a linear decrease that is characteristic of cascade dynamics. Destabilizing quiet standing with an unstable surface or closed eyes serves to attenuate inertial control and to elicit more of the feedback-based control over progressively shorter timescales. The result was to strengthen the appearance of the linear decay indicating cascade dynamics. Finally, both linear and nonlinear indices of postural sway also govern the relative strength of crossover or of linear decay, suggesting that tempering of non-Gaussianity across log-timescale is a function of both extrinsic constraints and endogenous postural control. These results provide new evidence that cascading interactions across longer timescales supporting postural corrections can even recruit shorter timescale processes with novel task constraints that can destabilize posture.

Yne-Enones Enable Diversity-Oriented Catalytic Cascade Reactions: A Rapid Assembly of Complexity

A small-molecule collection with structural diversity and complexity is a prerequisite to using either drug candidates or chemical probes for drug discovery and chemical-biology investigations, respectively. Over the past 12 years, we have engaged in developing efficient diversity-oriented cascade strategies for the synthesis of topologically diverse skeletons incorporating biologically relevant structural motifs such as O- and N-heterocycles, fused polycycles, and multifunctionalized allenes. In particular, we have highlighted the use of simple, linear, and densely functionalized molecular platforms in these reactions.This account details our efforts in the design of novel molecular platforms for use in metal- and organo-catalyzed cascade reactions, which include 2-(1-alknyl)-2-alken-1-ones (yne-enones) for heterocyclization/cross-coupling cascades, heterocyclization/cycloaddition cascades, nucleophilic addition/cross-coupling cascades, nucleophilic addition/heterocyclization cascades, and so on. Moreover, this Account outlines corresponding mechanistic insights, computational information, and applications of these cascades in the construction of various highly substituted carbo- and heterocycles as well as highly functionalized acyclic compounds, e.g., allenes and dienes. In addition to yne-enones, we evolved the functional groups of our original yne-enones to provide a series of yne-enone variants, which resulted in products with complementary reactivities.The reactivity profile of the yne-enones is defined by the presence of an alkyne moiety and a conjugated enone unit and their mutual through-bond connectivity. Owing to the conceptually rapid development of carbophilic activation, we have identified a series of efficient catalytic systems consisting of metal catalysts, including Pd, Au, and Rh complexes, for diversity-oriented cascade catalysis, allowing various unprecedented reactions to be achieved through different-types of reaction intermediates, including all-carbon metal 1,n-dipoles, furan-based o-quinodimethanes (oQDMs), and allenyl-metal species. In addition to commonly known transition-metal catalytic activity, the Lewis acidity of these complexes is crucial to accomplish the corresponding transformation. In addition, highly enantioselective gold(I)-catalyzed heterocyclization/cycloaddition cascades of yne-enones and their variants were achieved by the application of bisphosphines (e.g., Cn-TunePhos), monophosphines, and our developed "Ming-Phos" as chiral ligands. Importantly, Ming-Phos ligands exhibited excellent performance in gold-catalyzed mechanistically distinct [3 + n]-cycloaddition reactions, in which the chiral sulfinamide moiety is possibly responsible for the interaction with the substrate to control enantioselectivity. Subsequently, we demonstrated that the easily prepared polymer-supported Ming-Phos ligand could be applied for heterogeneously gold(I)-catalyzed asymmetric cycloaddition with good stereocontrol. With metal-free catalysis, the divergent functionalization of yne-enones provides numerous synthetic outlets for structure diversification. For example, yne-enones are particularly attractive for use as precursors of various chiral and achiral heterocycles, such as pyrazoles, isoxazoles, pyrroles, and pyrans, etc.

Controllable one-pot synthesis for scaffold diversity via visible-light photoredox-catalyzed Giese reaction and further transformation

This study presents a controllable one-pot synthesis for constructing valuable scaffolds (alcohols, 2,3-dihydrofurans, α-cyano-γ-butyrolactones, and γ-butyrolactones) via a visible-light photoredox-catalyzed Giese reaction and further transformation. This one-pot reaction can selectively synthesize the desired scaffold in excellent yields with good functional group tolerance. To further highlight the broad applicability of this controllable one-pot reaction, we have established flow reaction conditions with short reaction times for the scale-up of each scaffold and demonstrated the further transformation of 2,3-dihydrofurans and α-cyano-γ-butyrolactones to achieve scaffold diversity for applications in drug discovery.

Intercepted Retro-Nazarov Reaction: Syntheses of Amidino-Rocaglate Derivatives and Their Biological Evaluation as eIF4A Inhibitors

Rocaglates are a family of natural products isolated from the genus Aglaia which possess a highly substituted cyclopenta[b]benzofuran skeleton and inhibit cap-dependent protein synthesis. Rocaglates are attractive compounds due to their potential for inhibiting tumor cell maintenance in vivo by specifically targeting eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A) and interfering with recruitment of ribosomes to mRNA. In this paper, we describe an intercepted retro-Nazarov reaction utilizing intramolecular tosyl migration to generate a reactive oxyallyl cation on the rocaglate skeleton. Trapping of the oxyallyl cation with a diverse range of nucleophiles has been used to generate over 50 novel amidino-rocaglate (ADR) and amino-rocaglate derivatives. Subsequently, these derivatives were evaluated for their ability to inhibit cap-dependent protein synthesis where they were found to outperform previous lead compounds including the rocaglate hydroxamate CR-1-31-B.

Cascade reaction based synthetic strategies targeting biologically intriguing indole polycycles

In this review, cascade reaction based synthesis strategies delivering biologically intriguing indole polycycles are presented.

Mechanism-Guided Scaffold Diversification: Perturbing and Trapping the Intermediates of Maltol-Type Cascade Claisen Rearrangement

A mechanism-guided study to harness different kinds of active species in the cascade Claisen rearrangement for scaffold diversification has been developed. These robust and practical processes furnished a series of architectures with a large chemical space, varying from planar to three-dimensional. In addition, several interesting reactions were observed, such as [3 + 3] dimerization, quinone-based vinylogous Nazarov-type cyclization, and a rare 12e [σ2a + π2s + π2a + π2s + (π2a + π2s)] Mobius aromatic transition state mediated rearrangement.

Samarium(II) folding cascades involving hydrogen atom transfer for the synthesis of complex polycycles

The expedient assembly of complex, natural product-like small molecules can deliver new chemical entities with the potential to interact with biological systems and inspire the development of new drugs and probes for biology. Diversity-oriented synthesis is a particularly attractive strategy for the delivery of complex molecules in which the 3-dimensional architecture varies across the collection. Here we describe a folding cascade approach to complex polycyclic systems bearing multiple stereocentres mediated by reductive single electron transfer (SET) from SmI₂. Simple, linear substrates undergo three different folding pathways triggered by reductive SET. Two of the radical cascade pathways involve the activation and functionalization of otherwise inert secondary alkyl and benzylic groups by 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer (HAT). Combination of SmI₂, a privileged reagent for cascade reactions, and 1,5-HAT can lead to complexity-generating radical sequences that unlock access to diverse structures not readily accessible by other means.

Scaffold Diversity Synthesis Delivers Complex, Structurally, and Functionally Distinct Tetracyclic Benzopyrones

Complexity-generating chemical transformations that afford novel molecular scaffolds enriched in sp3 character are highly desired. Here, we present a highly stereoselective scaffold diversity synthesis approach that utilizes cascade double-annulation reactions of diverse pairs of zwitterionic and non-zwitterionic partners with 3-formylchromones to generate highly complex tetracyclic benzopyrones. Each pair of annulation partners adds to the common chroman-4-one scaffold to build two new rings, supporting up to four contiguous chiral centers that include an all-carbon quaternary center. Differently ring-fused benzopyrones display different biological activities, thus demonstrating their immense potential in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology research.

Synthesis of Some Novel Fused Pyrimido[4″,5″:5',6']-[1,2,4]triazino[3',4':3,4] [1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indoles with Expected Anticancer Activity

Our current goal is the synthesis of polyheterocyclic compounds starting from 3-amino-[1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indole 1 and studying their anticancer activity to determine whether increasing of the size of the molecules increases the anticancer activity or not. 1-Amino[1,2,4]triazino[3′,4′:3,4]-[1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indole-2-carbonitrile (4) was prepared by the diazotization of 3-amino[1,2,4]-triazino[5,6-b]indole 1 followed by coupling with malononitrile in basic medium then cyclization under reflux to get 4. Also, new fused pyrimido[4″,5″:5′,6′][1,2,4]triazino-[3′,4′:3,4][1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indole derivative 6 was prepared and used to obtain polycyclic heterocyclic systems. Confirmation of the synthesized compounds’ structures was carried out using elemental analyses and spectral data (IR, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR and mass spectra). The anticancer activity of some of the synthesized compounds was tested against HepG2, HCT-116 and MCF-7 cell lines. The anticancer screening results showed that some derivatives display good activity which was more potent than that of the reference drug used. Molecular docking was used to predict the binding between some of the synthesized compounds and the prostate cancer 2q7k hormone and breast ‎cancer 3hb5 receptors.

Structure-Based Kinetic Control in a Domino Process: A Powerful Tool Toward Molecular Diversity in Chromone Series

Two successive original routes leading to two novel families of polyheterocycles starting from the versatile chromone-based Michael acceptors platform are reported herein. The major aspect of this work is the selective access to these frameworks by changing the course of the domino process involved in their formation. First, enaminochromanones were selectively accessed under uncommon kinetic control. In this study, we showed that the tuning of the selectivity toward the kinetic product could be achieved by key structural modifications of the different reaction partners involved in the domino process. Once selectivity was efficiently controlled, enaminochromanones were ultimately transformed into a more complex family of polyheterocycles containing the pyrrolo-oxazinone framework. Here, the modulation of the domino sequence toward these particularly scarce structures was enabled by a pivotal switch in reactivity induced by aryl-λ³-iodanes.

Metal-Free Cascade Approach toward Polysubstituted Indolizines from Chromone-Based Michael Acceptors

An efficient cascade transformation toward indolizine-based molecules has been developed. This process leads to the rapid construction of two C-N bonds and one C-C bond without the need of any metal catalysis. The approach involves easily accessible chromone-based Michael acceptors and propargylamine derivatives as starting materials. This cascade constitutes a novel and very competitive alternative to the well reported strategies using pyridine or pyrrole derivatives for accessing the indolizine ring with substituents at uncommon C-positions.

A ligand-directed divergent catalytic approach to establish structural and functional scaffold diversity

The selective transformation of different starting materials by different metal catalysts under individually optimized reaction conditions to structurally different intermediates and products is a powerful approach to generate diverse molecular scaffolds. In a more unified albeit synthetically challenging strategy, common starting materials would be exposed to a common metal catalysis, leading to a common intermediate and giving rise to different scaffolds by tuning the reactivity of the metal catalyst through different ligands. Herein we present a ligand-directed synthesis approach for the gold(I)-catalysed cycloisomerization of oxindole-derived 1,6-enynes that affords distinct molecular scaffolds following different catalytic reaction pathways. Varying electronic properties and the steric demand of the gold(I) ligands steers the fate of a common intermediary gold carbene to selectively form spirooxindoles, quinolones or df-oxindoles. Investigation of a synthesized compound collection in cell-based assays delivers structurally novel, selective modulators of the Hedgehog and Wnt signalling pathways, autophagy and of cellular proliferation.

Synthetic methods that efficiently construct structurally diverse molecular scaffolds are attractive routes to diversely bioactive molecules. Here the authors report a method whereby common starting materials are converted to structurally and functionally diverse products by changing the catalyst ligand.

Propargyl Vinyl Ethers and Tertiary Skipped Diynes: Two Pluripotent Molecular Platforms for Diversity-Oriented Synthesis

During the last years, we have been involved in the development of a diversity-oriented synthetic strategy aimed at transforming simple, linear, and densely functionalized molecular platforms into collections of topologically diverse scaffolds incorporating biologically relevant structural motifs such as N- and O- heterocycles, multifunctionalized aromatic rings, fused macrocycles, etc. The strategy merges the concepts of pluripotency (the property of an array of chemical functionalities to express different chemical outcomes under different chemical environments) and domino chemistry (chemistry based on processes involving two or more bond-forming transformations that take place while the initial reaction conditions are maintained, with the subsequent reaction resulting as a consequence of the functionality installed in the previous one) to transform common multifunctional substrates into complex and diverse molecular frameworks. This design concept constitutes the ethos of the so-called branching cascade strategy, a branch of diversity-oriented synthesis focused on scaffold diversity generation. Two pluripotent molecular platforms have been extensively studied under this merging (branching) paradigm: C4-O-C3 propargyl vinyl ethers (PVEs) and C7 tertiary skipped diynes (TSDs). These are conveniently constructed from simple and commercially available raw materials (alkyl propiolates, ketones, aldehydes, acid chlorides) through multicomponent manifolds (ABB' three-component reaction for PVEs; A2BB' four-component reaction for TSDs) or a simple two-step procedure (for PVEs). Their modular origin facilitates their structural/functional diversification without increasing the number of synthetic steps for their assembly. These two pluripotent molecular platforms accommodate a well-defined and dense array of through-bond/through-space interrelated functionalities on their structures, which defines their primary reactivity principles and establishes the reactivity profile. The PVEs are defined by the presence of an alkyne (alkynoate) function and a conjugated enol moiety and their mutual through-bond/through-space connectivity. This functional array accommodates a number of domino reactions launched either by a Michael addition on the alkynoate moiety (conjugated alkynes) or by a [3,3]-propargyl Claisen rearrangement (conjugated and nonconjugated alkynes). The reactivity profile of the TSDs is defined by the two connected alkynoate moieties (Michael addition) and the bispropargylic ester group ([3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement). Using these first reactivity principles, each platform selectively delivers one unique and different skeleton (topology) from each domino transformation. Thus, through the use of 11 instrumentally simple and scalable domino reactions, we have transformed these two linear (rod-symmetric) pluripotent molecular platforms into 16 different scaffolds incorporating important structural motifs and multifunctional decorative patterns. The generated scaffolds entail carbocycles, heterocycles, aromatics, β,γ-unsaturated esters and acids, and fused polycycles. They can be transformed into more elaborated molecular skeletons by the use of chemical handles generated in their own domino reactions or by appending different functionalities to the pluripotent molecular platform (secondary reactivity principles).

Highly selective intramolecular addition of C–N and S–N bonds to alkynes catalyzed by palladium: a practical access to two distinct functional indoles

Palladium-catalyzed highly selective intramolecular addition of C–N and S–N bonds to alkynes has been achieved, and two distinct kinds of functional indoles were synthesized rapidly from the same set of substrates in a catalyst-controlled manner.

Asymmetric Synthesis of 1,3-Oxazolidine Derivatives with Multi-Component Reaction and Research of Kinetic Resolution

An efficient multi-component reaction to synthesize multi-substituted 1,3-oxazolidine compounds of high optical purity was described. All the products were well-characterized and the absolute configuration of one chiral center was determined. The plausible mechanism was proposed and a kinetic resolution of epoxides process was confirmed.

A general catalytic reaction sequence to access alkaloid-inspired indole polycycles

A general two-step catalytic reaction sequence affording a range of indole alkaloid-inspired complex molecular frameworks is presented.

Facile construction of novel heterocyclic compounds: three-component, one-pot synthesis of 2-hydroxybenzoyl-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carboxylates, ketones, pyridone-3-carboxylates and benzopyrido-1,3-oxazole-4-carboxylates

A facile method has been developed for the preparation of novel heterocyclic compounds facilitated by 3-oxobutanoates and 1,3-diketones possessing a trihalo group. This three-component, one-pot protocol provided heterocyclic compounds without a catalyst.

Synthesis of 4-quinolones, benzopyran derivatives and other fused systems based on the domino ANRORC reactions of (ortho-fluoro)-3-benzoylchromones

This method provides a valuable one-pot shortcut for the synthesis of 4-quinolones, benzopyran derivatives and other fused systems from (ortho-fluoro)-3-benzoylchromones.

Biology-oriented synthesis: harnessing the power of evolution

For scientists to gain a better understanding of nature, biological research is greatly aided by small-molecule modulators that perturb protein activity without fundamentally altering the underlying biological systems. The number of possible interfering molecules, however, is so vast that, due to limitations in existing matter and time required for synthesis, they cannot be covered comprehensively. Because proteins and their cognate natural product ligands and substrates co-evolved, these naturally occurring ligands can serve as structural starting points to explore the biologically relevant chemical space. To this end, known natural products are structurally classified on the basis of their core scaffolds and hierarchically arranged in the "natural product tree", which can be annotated for bioactivity and intuitively navigated with currently available software. Biologically relevant scaffolds inspire the synthesis of compound libraries enriched in biological activity. This Perspective describes the development of "biology-oriented synthesis" as a guiding principle to harness the power of evolution in the quest for novel bioactive small molecules for chemical biology research and drug discovery.