An efficient enzymatic preparation of rhinovirus protease inhibitor intermediates

Iridium-catalyzed asymmetric cascade dearomative allylation/acyl transfer rearrangement: access to chiral N-substituted 2-pyridones

Iridium-catalyzed dearomative allylation/acyl transfer rearrangement has been developed using easily available 2-pyridinyl benzoates and vinyl ethylene carbonate. This protocol enabled the expedient synthesis of a variety of chiral N-substituted 2-pyridones in good to high yields with excellent enantioselectivity. It has the advantages of high atom economy, wide substrate scope, gram-scale synthesis, and versatile synthetic transformations.

Selective approach to N-substituted tertiary 2-pyridones

Commercially available 2-hydroxypyridines are converted into enantiomerically enriched allylic 2-pyridones with elusive N-substituted tertiary carbon by means of Pd-catalyzed allylic amination of vinyl cyclic carbonates.

Pd-Catalyzed regio- and enantioselective allylic substitution with 2-pyridones

An efficient method for the asymmetric synthesis of N-substituted 2-pyridones via a Pd-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective allylic substitution of hydroxyl-containing allylic carbonates with 2-pyridones has been developed.

Specific N-Alkylation of Hydroxypyridines Achieved by a Catalyst- and Base-Free Reaction with Organohalides

A specific N-alkylation of 2-hydroxypyridines is achieved by reacting with organohalides under catalyst- and base-free conditions. The observed HX-facilitated conversion of pyridyl ether intermediates to 2-pyridone products may account for the success and specific N-alkylation of the reaction under the unexpectedly simple conditions. This new reaction may provide a useful alternative for the synthesis of 2-pyridones and analogous structures because of its >99% N-selectivity, relatively broad scopes of both substrates, and no mandatory use of catalysts and bases.

Palladium-catalyzed allylation of tautomerizable heterocycles with alkynes

A method for the allylic amidation of tautomerizable heterocycles was developed by a palladium catalyzed allylation reaction with 100% atom economy. A series of structurally diverse N-allylic substituted heterocycles can be synthesized in good yields with high chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivities under mild conditions.

Ir(I)-catalyzed synthesis of N-substituted pyridones from 2-alkoxypyridines via C-O bond cleavage

A cationic Ir(I) complex-catalyzed O-to-N-alkyl migration in 2-alkoxypyridines bearing a secondary alkyl group on the oxygen atom by C-O bond cleavage is described. The present transformation gave various N-alkylpyridones in moderate to good yields. The addition of sodium acetate played a key role in suppressing β-hydrogen elimination.

An integrated approach to developing chemoenzymatic processes at the industrial scale

Biocatalysis is becoming a transformational technology for chemical synthesis as a result of recent advances in enzyme discovery, structural biology, protein expression, high-throughput screening, and enzyme evolution technologies. To truly impact chemical synthesis at the industrial scale, biotransformations and chemical research and development must be integrated to develop cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions for drug manufacture. In this chapter, some recent applications of chemoenzymatic synthesis of pharmaceutically active ingredients or advanced intermediates were selected to illustrate the principle of this integrated approach.

Stereoselective lipases from Burkholderia sp., cloning and their application to preparation of methyl (R)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)alaninate, a key intermediate for (R)-Metalaxyl

Two microbial strains (referred to as MC 16-3 and 99-2-1) that produce extracellular lipases were isolated from soil samples and identified as Burkholderia species. The lipases were partially purified by isopropyl alcohol precipitation and gave molecular weight of 33kDa. The lipases were characterized in terms of stereoselectivity with racemic methoxyethyl (R,S)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)alaninate and the genes encoding the proteins have been identified by homology alignment of lipases reported belonging to I.2 subfamily and their complete DNA sequences were determined. The lipases will be useful for the preparation of methyl (R)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)alaninate, a key intermediate for the synthesis of (R)-Metalaxyl, which is one of the best-selling fungicides.