The Barbier-Type Allylation/Lactamization Cascade Route to Isoindolinones and the Heck-Type Annulation Route to Isoindolo[2,1-a]quinolines

The First Highly Enantioselective Synthesis of 3-Sulfinyl-Substituted Isoindolinones Having Adjacent Carbon and Sulfur Stereocenters

A highly stereoselective access to 3-sulfinyl-substituted isoindolinones has been achieved by a tandem organocatalytic addition/cyclization reaction of 2-carbobenzyloxy-N-tosylbenzylidenimine with thiols and succeeding diastereoselective oxidation with MCPBA. First, enantioenriched isoindolinone N,S-acetals have been obtained through a dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation induced by a bifunctional chiral thiourea organocatalyst. In turn, the newly created carbon stereocenter enabled a high diastereocontrol in the subsequent sulfoxidation. Based on DFT calculations, a theoretical rationale for the stereoselectivity of the oxidation reaction is also provided.

Synthesis of dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, their in silico ADMET properties and in vitro antitumor activities

We evaluated the antitumoral activity of diverse series of 5-aryl-dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, AIIQ (Aryl IsoIndolo-Quinoline, 4a-m), and 5-vinyl dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, VIIQ (Vinyl IsoIndolo-Quinoline, 6a-l), obtained using three component imino Diels-Alder (DA) reaction of anilines, o-phthalaldehyde and dienophiles. The first series was obtained in previous work employing isoeugenol and anethole as dienophiles, whereas the vinyl series was synthesized in high yields (75-90%) using isoprene as a dienophile. The cytotoxic activity of both AIIQ and VIIQ series was evaluated against four cancer lines, identifying a new lead compound 4h from the AIIQ series, active against MCF-7 (310 nM), SKBR3 (1434 nM), PC3 (210 nM) and HeLa (79 nM) cells with high selectivity. In addition, in silico ADMET properties for the two series were assessed and discussed.