Nucleophilic addition of 3,3,3-trifluoropropynyllithium to d-glyceraldimine: Concise synthesis of both enantiomers of 5,5,5-trifluoronorvaline

Applications of fluorine-containing amino acids for drug design

Fluorine-containing amino acids are becoming increasingly prominent in new drugs due to two general trends in the modern pharmaceutical industry. Firstly, the growing acceptance of peptides and modified peptides as drugs; and secondly, fluorine editing has become a prevalent protocol in drug-candidate optimization. Accordingly, fluorine-containing amino acids represent one of the more promising and rapidly developing areas of research in organic, bio-organic and medicinal chemistry. The goal of this Review article is to highlight the current state-of-the-art in this area by profiling 42 selected compounds that combine fluorine and amino acid structural elements. The compounds under discussion represent pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market, or in clinical trials as well as examples of drug-candidates that although withdrawn from development had a significant impact on the progress of medicinal chemistry and/or provided a deeper understanding of the nature and mechanism of biological action. For each compound, we present features of biological activity, a brief history of the design principles and the development of the synthetic approach, focusing on the source of tailor-made amino acid structures and fluorination methods. General aspects of the medicinal chemistry of fluorine-containing amino acids and synthetic methodology are briefly discussed.

Practical Method for Preparation of (S)-2-Amino-5,5,5-trifluoropentanoic Acid via Dynamic Kinetic Resolution

This work reports an operationally convenient ∼20 g scale synthesis of (S)-2-amino-5,5,5-trifluoropentanoic acid and its Fmoc-derivative via dynamic kinetic resolution of the corresponding racemate.

Enantiospecific Alkynylation of Alkylboronic Esters

Enantioenriched secondary and tertiary alkyl pinacolboronic esters undergo enantiospecific deborylative alkynylation through a Zweifel-type alkenylation followed by a 1,2-elimination reaction. The process involves use of α-lithio vinyl bromide or vinyl carbamate species, for which application to Zweifel-type reactions has not previously been explored. The resulting functionalized 1,1-disubstituted alkenes undergo facile base-mediated elimination to generate terminal alkyne products in high yield and excellent levels of enantiospecificity over a wide range of pinacolboronic ester substrates. Furthermore, along with terminal alkynes, internal and silyl-protected alkynes can be formed by simply introducing a suitable carbon- or silicon-based electrophile after the base-mediated 1,2-elimination reaction.

Oxidative 3,3,3-trifluoropropylation of arylaldehydes

A reaction between (E)-trimethyl(3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-en-1-yl)silane (1) and arylaldehydes 2 was triggered by fluoride anions to afford aryl 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl ketones 3 in moderate to good yield. A mechanistic study of this reaction indicated that it occurred via an allyl alkoxide (4). A subsequent 1,3-proton shift of the benzylic proton of 4 forms 3. This reaction involves oxidative 3,3,3-trifluoropropylation of an arylaldehyde to afford 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-arylbutan-1-one.

Asymmetric synthesis of sterically and electronically demanding linear ω-trifluoromethyl containing amino acids via alkylation of chiral equivalents of nucleophilic glycine and alanine

An operationally convenient, scalable asymmetric synthesis of linear, ω-trifluoromethyl-containing amino acids, which were not previously produced in their enantiomerically pure form, has been developed via alkylation of chiral equivalents of nucleophilic glycine and alanine. The simplicity of the experimental procedures and high stereochemical outcome (yields up to 90% and diastereoselectivity up to 99%) of the presented method render these fluorinated amino acids readily available for systematic medicinal chemistry studies and de novo peptide design.