A direct copper-catalyzed route to pyrrolo-fused heterocycles from boronic acids

Ketones as strategic building blocks for the synthesis of natural product-inspired compounds

Natural product-inspired compound collections serve as excellent sources for the identification of new bioactive compounds to treat disease. However, such compounds must necessarily be more structurally-enriched than traditional screening compounds, therefore inventive synthetic strategies and reliable methods are needed to prepare them. Amongst the various possible starting materials that could be considered for the synthesis of natural product-inspired compounds, ketones can be especially valuable due to the vast variety of complexity-building synthetic transformations that they can take part in, their high prevalence as commercial building blocks, and relative ease of synthesis. With a view towards developing a unified synthetic strategy for the preparation of next generation bioactive compound collections, this review considers whether ketones could serve as general precursors in this regard, and summarises the opulence of synthetic transformations available for the annulation of natural product ring-systems to ketone starting materials.

Recent developments in the synthesis of azaindoles from pyridine and pyrrole building blocks

The azaindole framework is ubiquitous in bioactive natural products and pharmaceuticals. This review highlights the synthetic approaches to azaindoles with advantages and limitations, mechanistic pathways and biological importance.

Di-tert-butyl Ethynylimidodicarbonate as a General Synthon for the β-Aminoethylation of Organic Electrophiles: Application to the Formal Synthesis of Pyrrolidinoindoline Alkaloids (±)-CPC-1 and (±)-Alline

The reagent di-tert-butyl ethynylimidodicarbonate is demonstrated as a β-aminoethyl anion synthetic equivalent. It can be used to install ethyleneamine groups by exploiting its terminal alkyne reactivity with common organic electrophiles. Reactions exemplified with this terminal ynimide reagent include additions to imines, aldehydes, ketones, pyridinium salts, Michael acceptors, epoxides, and Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira couplings. Subsequent regioselective [3 + 2] cycloadditions of the alkynyl-imides (ynimides) generate N,N-di-Boc imide-functionalized triazole and isoxazole heterocycles. Reduction of the ynimides with Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation generates ethyleneimides with easily removable N,N-di-Boc-carbamate protecting groups, allowing for a flexible ynimide-based approach to ethyleneamine installation. The utility of this two-step aminoethylation strategy was demonstrated in the short formal syntheses of pyrrolidinoindoline alkaloids (±)-CPC-1 and (±)-alline. Analogously, the reagent (N,N,N')-tri-Boc 2-ethynylhydrazine serves as a β-hydrazinoethyl anion synthetic equivalent.

Discovery of a Potent and Selective NF-κB-Inducing Kinase (NIK) Inhibitor That Has Anti-inflammatory Effects in Vitro and in Vivo

The overexpression of NIK plays a critical role in liver inflammatory diseases. Treatment of such diseases with small-molecule NIK inhibitors is a reasonable but underexplored approach. In this paper, we reported the discovery of a potent and selective NIK inhibitor 46 (XT2). 46 inhibited the NIK kinase with an IC50 value of 9.1 nM in vitro, and it also potently suppressed NIK activities in intact cells. In isogenic primary hepatocytes, treatment of 46 efficiently suppressed the expressions of NIK-induced genes. 46 was orally bioavailable in mice with moderate systemic exposure. In a NIK-associated mouse liver inflammation model, 46 suppressed CCl4-induced upregulation of ALT, a key biomarker of acute liver injury. 46 also decreased immune cell infiltration into the injured liver tissue. Overall, these studies provide examples that an NIK inhibitor is able to suppress toxin-induced liver inflammations, which indicates its therapeutic potentials for the treatment of liver inflammatory diseases.

Divergent reaction pathways of homologous and isosteric propargyl amides in sequential Ru/Pd-catalyzed annulations for the synthesis of heterocycles

Cu-catalyzed three-component coupling of imines with benzoyl chloride and terminal arylalkynes followed by enyne ring-closing metathesis (RCM) and Heck cyclization afforded medicinally relevant benzoindolines, cyclopropane-fused indenopyridines, pyrroloquinolines, or 1,7-tetrahydrophenanthrolines via divergent cyclization pathways. Unexpectedly, the Pd-catalyzed cyclization of heterocyclic dienes proceeded via regiodivergent 5-exo or 6-endo pathways depending on the ring size (n = 1, 2) or the presence of isosteric groups (CH vs N). A one-pot protocol for the enyne-RCM/Heck annulation featuring a sequential addition of the Ru and Pd catalysts was developed maximizing the synthetic efficiency.