Studies on the Lossen-type rearrangement of N-(3-phenylpropionyloxy) phthalimide and N-tosyloxy derivatives with several nucleophiles

Generation of Mixed Anhydrides via Oxidative Fragmentation of Tertiary Cyclopropanols with Phenyliodine(III) Dicarboxylates

Oxidative fragmentation of tertiary cyclopropanols with phenyliodine(III) dicarboxylates in aprotic solvents (dichloromethane, chloroform, toluene) produces mixed anhydrides. The fragmentation reaction is especially facile with phenyliodine(III) reagents bearing electron-withdrawing carboxylate ligands (trifluoroacetyl, 2,4,6-trichlorobenzoyl, 3-nitrobenzoyl), and affords 95−98% yields of the corresponding mixed anhydride products. The latter can be straightforwardly applied for the acylation of various nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur-centered nucleophiles (primary and secondary amines, hydroxylamines, primary alcohols, phenols, thiols). Intramolecular acylation yielding macrocyclic lactones can also be performed. The developed transformation has bolstered the synthetic utility of cyclopropanols as pluripotent intermediates in diversity-oriented synthesis of bioactive natural products and their synthetic congeners. For example, it was successfully applied for the last-stage modification of a cyclic peptide to produce a precursor of a known histone deacetylase inhibitor.

Metal coordination and tyrosinase inhibition studies with Kojic-βAla-Kojic

Kojic acid is a natural antifungal and antibacterial agent that has been extensively studied for its tyrosinase inhibitory and metal coordination properties. Tyrosinase is a metalloenzyme with two copper ions in the active site. It is widely accepted that the tyrosinase inhibitory activity of kojic acid is related to its ability to coordinate metals. Over the past five years, we have used kojic acid to synthesize new and efficient bis-kojic acid chelators of iron and aluminium. In parallel, we investigated whether the de novo designed ligands could interfere with proper tyrosinase functioning. The present study combines our experience with inhibition and coordination studies of the new ligand: Kojic-βAla-Kojic. Research aimed at the assembly of a new potent tyrosinase inhibitor was based on the well-known crystal structure of the enzyme. Two questions were whether two kojic acids could act better than one and to what extent the length and kind of linker could ameliorate metal coordination, and inhibitory activity. Our results show that Kojic-βAla-Kojic has high affinity for Fe(III), Al(III), Zn(II), and Cu(II) and strong tyrosinase inhibitory effect and it can be proposed for use in industrial and pharmaceutical applications.

Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of morpholino-1H-phenalene derivatives that antagonize Mcl-1/Bcl-2

We report herein characteristic studies of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 dual inhibitors. It was found that a protruding carbonyl group forming hydrogen bond with R263 plays a predominant role compared with the hydrophobic group that occupies the p2 pocket. A series of dual inhibitors representing different parts of the morpholino-1H-phenalene were designed, synthesized and evaluated.

One-pot efficient synthesis of N(α)-urethane-protected β- and γ-amino acids

1-[(4-Methylphenyl)oxy]pyrrolidine-2,5-dione and 1-[(4-methylphenyl)oxy]piperidine-2,6-dione react in a Lossen-type reaction with primary alcohols in the presence of triethylamine to furnish corresponding N^α-urethane-protected β-alanine and γ-aminopropionic acid (GABA), respectively, with excellent yields and purities, in an essentially “one-pot” procedure.

Benz[cd]indol-2(1H)-one at 298 and 100 K

Weakly diffracting crystals of benz[cd]indol-2(1H)-one (naphtholactam), C(11)H(7)NO, were unsuitable for data collection by early photographic methods. However, a diffractometer data set collected at room temperature in 1989 was solved and refined. The peak scans were broad, and the results indicated disorder or a satellite crystal. Recent data collection (on another crystal from the same sample) with an area detector at 100 K revealed the same disorder, and made it possible to refine two different, more complete, disorder models. Both models assume an occasional 180° rotation of the nearly planar centrosymmetric cis-lactam dimer. The refinements differ, especially in the anisotropic displacement parameters for the -C(=O)-NH- portion of the molecule. Both models at 100 K give a C-N (`amide') bond distance of 1.38 Å, about 0.04 Å longer than the average distance in saturated γ-lactams in the Cambridge Structural Database. Cohesive packing interactions between molecules include opposing-dipole dimers; the packing may explain the 10:1 ratio favoring the major-occupancy molecule.