Fluorogenic probes based on polycyclic sydnone scaffolds

Sydnone: Synthesis, Reactivity and Biological Activities

Sydnones are among the most well-known mesoionic compounds. Since their synthesis in 1935 by Earl and Mecknay, numerous researches have shown that the chemical behavior, physical and biological properties of sydnones make them the most useful compounds in organic chemistry. Sydnones undergo thermal 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with dipolarophiles (alkynes or alkenes) to give exclusively derivatives containing a pyrazole moiety exhibiting numerous applications, such as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. However, the sydnone cycloaddition reaction with alkynes requires harsh conditions, like high temperatures and long reaction times, giving poor regioselectivity to the resulting products. To overcome these constraints, new reactions named CuSAC (Copper- Catalyzed Sydnone-Alkyne Cycloaddition) and SPSAC (Strain-Promoted Sydnone- Alkyne Cycloaddition) have been developed, leading to pyrazoles with interesting constant kinetics.

Thioisomünchnones versus Acrylamides via Copper-Catalyzed Reaction of Thioamides with Diazocarbonyl Compounds

A novel carbenoid-mediated approach to thioisomünchnones was developed by intermolecular copper-catalyzed reactions of diazoacetamides with aromatic and heteroaromatic thioamides bearing a pyrrolidine moiety. The direction of the reaction can be switched toward 2-amino-2-heteroarylacrylamides by replacing the pyrrolidine with an aniline group or by the use of 2-cyano-2-diazoacetamides. The proposed mechanism and DFT calculations allowed us to rationalize the effect of substituents on the reaction direction. Effective methods were found for the synthesis of previously unknown both 2-heteroarylthioisomünchones and 2-heteroarylacrylamides, based on a wide scope of available reagents with a similar structure. Some of the synthesized thioisomünchnones exhibited multicolor fluorescence in the solid state and solutions.

Biomacromolecule-Assisted Screening for Reaction Discovery and Catalyst Optimization

Reaction discovery and catalyst screening lie at the heart of synthetic organic chemistry. While there are efforts at de novo catalyst design using computation/artificial intelligence, at its core, synthetic chemistry is an experimental science. This review overviews biomacromolecule-assisted screening methods and the follow-on elaboration of chemistry so discovered. All three types of biomacromolecules discussed─enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids─have been used as "sensors" to provide a readout on product chirality exploiting their native chirality. Enzymatic sensing methods yield both UV-spectrophotometric and visible, colorimetric readouts. Antibody sensors provide direct fluorescent readout upon analyte binding in some cases or provide for cat-ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)-type readouts. DNA biomacromolecule-assisted screening allows for templation to facilitate reaction discovery, driving bimolecular reactions into a pseudo-unimolecular format. In addition, the ability to use DNA-encoded libraries permits the barcoding of reactants. All three types of biomacromolecule-based screens afford high sensitivity and selectivity. Among the chemical transformations discovered by enzymatic screening methods are the first Ni(0)-mediated asymmetric allylic amination and a new thiocyanopalladation/carbocyclization transformation in which both C-SCN and C-C bonds are fashioned sequentially. Cat-ELISA screening has identified new classes of sydnone-alkyne cycloadditions, and DNA-encoded screening has been exploited to uncover interesting oxidative Pd-mediated amido-alkyne/alkene coupling reactions.

Click and Bio-Orthogonal Reactions with Mesoionic Compounds

Click and bio-orthogonal reactions are dominated by cycloaddition reactions in general and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions in particular. Among the dipoles routinely used for click chemistry, azides, nitrones, isonitriles, and nitrile oxides are the most popular. This review is focused on the emerging click chemistry that uses mesoionic compounds as dipole partners. Mesoionics are a very old family of molecules, but their use as reactants for click and bio-orthogonal chemistry is quite recent. The facility to derivatize these dipoles and to tune their reactivity toward cycloaddition reactions makes mesoionics an attractive opportunity for future click chemistry development. In addition, some compounds from this family are able to undergo click-and-release reactions, finding interesting applications in cells, as well as in animals. This review covers the synthetic access to main mesoionics, their reaction with dipolarophiles, and recent applications in chemical biology and heterocycle synthesis.

Synthesis of 1-(2-Fluorophenyl)pyrazoles by 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition of the Corresponding Sydnones

3-Arylsydnones bearing fluorine and bromine atoms on the benzene ring were synthesized from N-nitroso-2-fluorophenylglycines and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. These were employed further in synthesis of the corresponding 1-(2-fluorophenyl)pyrazoles by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) as activated dipolarophile. The sydnones as reaction intermediates were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis showing interesting features such as halogen bonding as an important interaction in modeling the crystal structure.