Stereocontrolled synthesis of the spirocyclic alkaloid (±)-nitramine

Lewis Acid-Catalyzed Formal (4+2)-Cycloaddition between Cross-Conjugated Azatrienes and Styrylmalonates: The Way to Functionalized Quinolizidine Precursors

Quinolizidine and azaphenalene alkaloids are common in nature and exhibit a pharmaceutical activity, which stirs up increased interest in expanding the range of methods for the synthesis of the corresponding derivatives. In this work, we attempted to adapt our previously presented method for the synthesis of tetrahydropyridines to the preparation of potential precursors for these heterocycles as a separate development of a necessary intermediate stage. To this end, we studied the reactions of β-styrylmalonates with N-protected cross-conjugated azatrienes in the presence of Sn(OTf)₂. Moreover, the regioselectivity of the process involving unsymmetrically substituted azatrienes was estimated. The diene character of vinyltetrahydropyridines was studied in detail with the participation of PTAD. Finally, for the Ts-protected highly functionalized vinyltetrahydropyridines synthesized, a detosylation method to give new desired azadiene structures as precursors of the quinolizidine core was suggested.

A scalable continuous photochemical process for the generation of aminopropylsulfones

An efficient continuous photochemical process is presented that delivers a series of novel γ-aminopropylsulfones via a tetrabutylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) catalysed HAT-process. Crucial to this success is the exploitation of a new high-power LED emitting at 365 nm that was found to be superior to an alternative medium-pressure Hg lamp. The resulting flow process enabled the scale-up of this transformation reaching throughputs of 20 mmol h-1 at substrate concentrations up to 500 mM. Additionally, the substrate scope of this transformation was evaluated demonstrating the straightforward incorporation of different amine substituents as well as alkyl appendages next to the sulfone moiety. It is anticipated that this methodology will allow for further exploitations of these underrepresented γ-aminopropylsulfone scaffolds in the future.

Mass spectrometry and theoretical studies on N-C bond cleavages in the N-sulfonylamidino thymine derivatives

The reactivity of new biologically active thymine derivatives substituted with 2-(arylsulfonamidino)ethyl group at N1 and N3 position was investigated in the gas phase using CID experiments (ESI-MS/MS) and by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Both derivatives show similar chemistry in the negative mode with a retro-Michael addition (Path A(-)) being the most abundant reaction channel, which correlate well with the fluoride induced retro-Michael addition observed in solution. The difference in the fragmentation of N-3 substituted thymine 5 and N-1 substituted thymine 1 in the positive mode relates to the preferred cleavage of the sulfonyl group (m/z 155, Path B) in N-3 isomer and the formation of the acryl sulfonamidine 3 (m/z 309) via Path A in N-1 isomer. Mechanistic studies of the cleavage reaction conducted by DFT calculations give the trend of the calculated activation energies that agree well with the experimental observations. A mechanism of the retro-Michael reaction was interpreted as a McLafferty type of fragmentation, which includes Hβ proton shift to one of the neighboring oxygen atoms in a 1,5-fashion inducing N1(N3)-Cα bond scission. This mechanism was found to be kinetically favorable over other tested mechanisms. Significant difference in the observed fragmentation pattern of N-1 and N-3 isomers proves the ESI-MS/MS technique as an excellent method for tracking the fate of similar sulfonamidine drugs. Also, the observed N-1 and/or N-3 thymine alkylation with in situ formed reactive acryl sulfonamidine 3 as a Michael acceptor may open interesting possibilities for the preparation of other N-3 substituted pyrimidines.