Parallel and combinatorial approaches for synthesis of ligands

High-Throughput Screening of the Alkoxide/Oxime-Based Library: An Alternative to Organotin Compounds for the Alkoxysilane Condensation in Adhesives and Sealants

In this work, a high-throughput screening (HTS) method was used to discover new efficient catalysts to substitute organotin compounds (DBTDL) for the cross-linking of silyl-modified polymers (SMPs). We report here on the use of our HTS method to investigate a library of alkoxide/oxime systems with different metal/ligand (M/L) ratios. Among the 156 candidates tested, 40 interesting hits were detected. Then, the cross-linking times for the better hits were measured on the SMP. Some of these seem to be more efficient than DBTDL and exhibit a good stability during storage in cartridges. Thereby, a high efficiency of alkoxide/oxime systems was established that shows great potential for the generation of new ligands to provide new tin-free catalysts for the cross-linking of adhesives and sealants.

Parallel and modular synthesis of P-chirogenic P,O-ligands

A modular synthesis of P-chirogenic α-alkoxyphosphine ligands has been developed, allowing for the variation of two of the three groups on phosphorus. Oxidation and concomitant desymmetrization of a prochiral alkyl- or aryldimethylphosphine borane afforded α-hydroxyphosphines, which were subsequently deprotonated and alkylated in a parallel fashion. The choice of base and temperature for the alkylation step was found to be crucial for the outcome of the reaction. Selected ligands were subsequently screened in palladium catalyzed allylic substitution, affording product in good to excellent yield but moderate enantioselectivity, indicating that further optimization of the ligand structures is desirable to increase the stereoselectivity.

Rigid bis-zinc(ii) salphen building blocks for the formation of template-assisted bidentate ligands and their application in catalysis

The template-induced formation of chelating bidentate ligands by the selective self-assembly of two monodentate pyridyl phosphorus ligands on a rigid bis-zinc(II) salphen template with two identical binding sites was studied. Using UV-vis, NMR-spectroscopy and X-ray analysis the formed structures were unambiguously proven. The application of these templated bidentate ligands in transition metal catalysis showed, in most cases, typical bidentate character. Compared to previous work based on a more flexible bis-zinc(II) porphyrin template, the current catalytic data suggest that the rigidity of the template is not an important factor for the improvement of the regio- and enantioselectivity under the applied reaction conditions.

"Cassette" in situ enzymatic screening identifies complementary chiral scaffolds for hydrolytic kinetic resolution across a range of epoxides

‘Cassette’-ISES (In Situ Enzymatic Screening) Identifies Complementary Chiral Scaffolds for Hydrolytic Kinetic Resolution Across a Range of Epoxides

A new ‘Cassette’-In Situ Enzymatic Screen (ISES) for combinatorial catalysis is introduced. This allows the experimentalist to obtain an information-rich readout, in real time, providing an estimate of the sense and magnitude of enantioselectivity across more than one substrate. In its first iteration, the screen identified CoIII-salen catalysts with β-pinene- and α-naphthylalanine-derived chiral scaffolds with broad, yet complementary, substrate specificities.

Affinity chromatography matures as bioinformatic and combinatorial tools develop

Affinity chromatography has the reputation of a more expensive and less robust than other types of liquid chromatography. Furthermore, the technique is considered to stand a modest chance of large-scale purification of proteinaceous pharmaceuticals. This perception is changing because of the pressure for quality protein therapeutics, and the realization that higher returns can be expected when ensuring fewer purification steps and increased product recovery. These developments necessitated a rethinking of the protein purification processes and restored the interest for affinity chromatography. This liquid chromatography technique is designed to offer high specificity, being able to safely guide protein manufactures to successfully cope with the aforementioned challenges. Affinity ligands are distinguished into synthetic and biological. These can be generated by rational design or selected from ligand libraries. Synthetic ligands are generated by three methods. The rational method features the functional approach and the structural template approach. The combinatorial method relies on the selection of ligands from a library of synthetic ligands synthesized randomly. The combined method employs both methods, that is, the ligand is selected from an intentionally biased library based on a rationally designed ligand. Biological ligands are selected by employing high-throughput biological techniques, e.g. phage- and ribosome-display for peptide and microprotein ligands, in addition to SELEX for oligonucleotide ligands. Synthetic mimodyes and chimaeric dye-ligands are usually designed by rational approaches and comprise a chloro-triazinlyl scaffold. The latter substituted with various amino acids, carbocyclic, and heterocyclic groups, generates libraries from which synthetic ligands can be selected. A 'lead' compound may help to generating a 'focused' or 'biased' library. This can be designed by various approaches, e.g.: (i) using a natural ligand-protein complex as a template; (ii) applying the principle of complementarity to exposed residues of the protein structure; and (iii) mimicking directly a natural biological recognition interaction. Affinity ligands, based on the peptide structure, can be peptides, peptide-mimetic derivatives (<30 monomers) and microproteins (e.g. 25-200 monomers). Microprotein ligands are selected from biological libraries constructed of variegated protein domains, e.g. minibody, Kunitz, tendamist, cellulose-binding domain, scFv, Cytb562, zinc-finger, SpA-analogue (Z-domain).

Supramolecular Approaches to Generate Libraries of Chelating Bidentate Ligands for Homogeneous Catalysis

The process of catalyst discovery and development relying on combinatorial methods has suffered so far from the difficult access to structurally diverse and large libraries of ligands, in particular the structurally more complex class of bidentate ligands. A completely new approach to streamline the difficult ligand synthesis process is to use structurally less complex monodentate ligands that self-assemble in the coordination sphere of a metal center through noncovalent attractive ligand-ligand interactions to generate bidentate, chelating ligands. When complementary attractive ligand-ligand interactions are employed, it is even possible to generate libraries of defined chelate-ligand catalysts by simply mixing two different monomeric ligands. This Minireview summarizes the first approaches and results in this new field of combinatorial homogeneous catalysis.