2-Oxopiperazine-based gamma-turn conformationally constrained peptides: synthesis of CCK-4 analogues

Synthesis of chiral piperazin-2-ones through palladium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of pyrazin-2-ols

A palladium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of pyrazines containing a tautomeric hydroxyl group was developed, providing a facile access to chiral disubstituted piperazin-2-ones with excellent diastereoselectivities and enantioselectivities.

Synthesis of novel isoindole-containing phakellistatin 2 analogs and the conformation features affecting their antitumor activities

Two novel phakellistatin 2 analogs were synthesized and the conformational features affecting their antitumor activities were studied.

Efficient synthesis of conformationally constrained, amino-triazoloazepinone-containing di- and tripeptides via a one-pot Ugi-Huisgen tandem reaction

Herein we describe a catalyst-free procedure employing an Ugi-4CR between a β-azido-α-amino acid, propargylamine, an isocyanide and an aldehyde, followed by a thermal azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition to generate a 16-member library of amino-triazoloazepinone-bearing di- and tripeptides with up to four points of diversification and high atom economy.

Enantioselective synthesis of α-secondary and α-tertiary piperazin-2-ones and piperazines by catalytic asymmetric allylic alkylation

The asymmetric palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative allylic alkylation of differentially N-protected piperazin-2-ones allows the synthesis of a variety of highly enantioenriched tertiary piperazine-2-ones. Deprotection and reduction affords the corresponding tertiary piperazines, which can be employed for the synthesis of medicinally important analogues. The introduction of these chiral tertiary piperazines resulted in imatinib analogues which exhibited comparable antiproliferative activity to that of their corresponding imatinib counterparts.

Synthesis of 1- and 4-substituted piperazin-2-ones via Jocic-type reactions with N-substituted diamines

Enantiomerically-enriched trichloromethyl-containing alcohols are transformed regioselectively into enantiomerically-enriched 1-substituted piperazinones by modified Jocic reactions.

Rational design of topographical helix mimics as potent inhibitors of protein-protein interactions

Protein–protein interactions encompass large surface areas, but often a handful of key residues dominate the binding energy landscape. Rationally designed small molecule scaffolds that reproduce the relative positioning and disposition of important binding residues, termed “hotspot residues”, have been shown to successfully inhibit specific protein complexes. Although this strategy has led to development of novel synthetic inhibitors of protein complexes, often direct mimicry of natural amino acid residues does not lead to potent inhibitors. Experimental screening of focused compound libraries is used to further optimize inhibitors but the number of possible designs that can be efficiently synthesized and experimentally tested in academic settings is limited. We have applied the principles of computational protein design to optimization of nonpeptidic helix mimics as ligands for protein complexes. We describe the development of computational tools to design helix mimetics from canonical and noncanonical residue libraries and their application to two therapeutically important protein–protein interactions: p53-MDM2 and p300-HIF1α. The overall study provides a streamlined approach for discovering potent peptidomimetic inhibitors of protein–protein interactions.

Preparation of diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonene-based peptidomimetics

Several functionalized diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonenes and other heterocycles have been prepared as potential peptidomimetic scaffolds. A novel and efficient method has been developed for the preparation of N-substituted gamma-lactams 13. Preparation of amidine-containing 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonenes 43 and 44 has been achieved through Hg-mediated cyclization of the precursor N-aminopropyl-gamma-thiolactams and subsequent functional group manipulation. Bicycle 43 represents a novel scaffold for potential peptide turn mimetics, whereas 44 could potentially be employed as an alpha-helix template attached to the C-terminus of peptides. These compounds are novel additions to the current range of small-molecule constrained peptidomimetics.

Synthesis of highly substituted enantiopure piperazines and ketopiperazines from vicinal N-sulfinyl diamines

Enantiopure 1-benzyl-2,3-disubstituted piperazines (4) have been synthesized by treatment of N-sulfinyl-N-benzyldiamino alcohols (1) with diethyl oxalate and sodium methoxide followed by reduction with borane. Alternatively, the sulfinamido group was preserved by an N-acylation/cyclization protocol using alpha-chloroacetyl chloride that led to the synthesis of N-sulfinyl ketopiperazines (11). Ensuing elimination of the sulfinyl group with NaH produced imino ketopiperazines (9) that are suitably functionalized for nucleophilic addition to the imino moiety. Stereoselective and high yielding allylation of imino ketopiperazines (9c) was achieved under Barbier conditions using CeCl3.7H2O as the additive.

Grafting aminocyclopentane carboxylic acids onto the RGD tripeptide sequence generates low nanomolar alphaVbeta3/alphaVbeta5 integrin dual binders

Eleven gamma-aminocyclopentane carboxylic acid (Acpca) platforms, including four dihydroxy representatives (19-22), three hydroxy analogues (34-36), and four deoxy derivatives (30-33), were prepared in a chiral nonracemic format. These simple units were then grafted onto an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) tripeptide framework by a mixed solid phase/solution protocol delivering an ensemble of 11 macrocyclic analogues of type cyclo-[-Arg-Gly-Asp-Acpca-], 1-11. The individual compounds were evaluated for their binding affinity toward the alphaVbeta3 and alphaVbeta5 integrin receptors. The analogue 10 exhibited a very interesting activity profile (IC50/alphaVbeta3= 1.5 nM; IC50/alphaVbeta5= 0.59 nM), comparable to that of reference compounds EMD121974 and ST1646. Closely related congeners 6, 8, and 9 also proved to be excellent dual binders with activity levels in the low nanomolar range. The three-dimensional (3D) NMR solution structures were determined, and docking studies to X-ray crystal structure of the extracellular segment of integrin alphaVbeta3 in complex with the reference compound EMD121974 were performed on selected analogues to elucidate the interplay between structure and function in these systems and to evidence the subtle bases for receptorial recognition. The results prove that the principle of isosteric dipeptide replacement for peptidomimetics design and synthesis can be violated, without detriment to the development of highly effective integrin binders.

Molecular Diversity via Amino Acid Derived α-Amino Nitriles: Synthesis of Spirocyclic 2,6-Dioxopiperazine Derivatives

[reaction: see text] Chiral spirocyclic 2,6-dioxopiperazines were synthesized from amino acid derived alpha-quaternary alpha-amino nitriles via H(2)SO(4)-promoted cyano hydration, followed by base-mediated cyclization and N-alkylation. This methodology, requiring the previous preparation of the amino nitrile by a modified Strecker reaction, was applied to Phe, Trp, Pro, Asp, Glu, and Ser derivatives. In the case of the Trp-derived amino nitrile the major product of the treatment with H(2)SO(4) was not the expected carboxamide, but a new tetracyclic indoline derivative containing the novel heterocyclic system hexahydropyrrolo[1',2',3':1,9a,9]imidazo[1,2-a]indole, as a result of a domino tautomerization. The treatment of this indoline derivative with refluxing 1 N HCl led to a Trp-derived 2,6-dioxopiperazine. The 2,6-dioxopiperazine ring opened under the reaction conditions of methyl ester saponification, giving N-(carboxyalkyl)amino acid derivatives. Therefore, the synthesis of 2,6-dioxopiperazines containing free carboxylic acids from the respective methyl esters required transesterification to benzyl esters, followed by hydrogenolysis.

Unprecedented Stereospecific Synthesis of a Novel Tetracyclic Ring System, a Hybrid of Tetrahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indole and Tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]indole, via a Domino Reaction upon a Tryptophan-Derived Amino Nitrile

Compounds containing a novel tetracyclic ring system, a hybrid of tetrahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indole and tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]indole, are synthesized via an acid-mediated stereospecific domino tautomerization of a tryptophan-derived alpha-amino nitrile. Characterization of these new compounds and preliminary studies on the reactivity of the tetracyclic heterocyclic system are reported. [reaction: see text]

Peptide backbone folding induced by the C(alpha)-tetrasubstituted cyclic alpha-amino acids 4-amino-1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid (Adt) and 1-aminocyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid (Ac5c). A joint computational and experimental study

The conformational study of a new group of synthetic peptides containing 4-amino-1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid (Adt), a cysteine-related achiral residue, has been carried out through a joint application of computational and experimental methodologies. Molecular Dynamics simulations clearly suggest the tendency of this molecule to adopt a gamma-turn conformation in vacuum and help in analyzing the complex and crucial conformational behaviour of the dithiolane ring which appears to preferentially adopt a C(S)-like structure. Electronic structure calculations carried out in solution using the Density Functional Theory also indicate the preservation of the gamma-like folding in apolar solvents and the helix-like one in more polar solvents. A comparison with the achiral 1-aminocycloalkane-1-carboxylic acid (Ac5c) has been carried out using the same computational tools. NMR and IR data on dipeptide derivatives containing the Adt or Ac5c residue show that in chloroform solution all the models prefer a gamma-turn structure, centered at the cyclic residue, stabilized by an intramolecular H-bond, whereas in a more polar solvent, i.e. dimethyl sulfoxide, this folding is not maintained. The experimental conformational studies, extended to N-Boc protected tripeptides, clearly indicate the remarkable tendency of both the five-membered C(alpha)-tetrasubstituted cyclic amino acids Adt and Ac5c to induce the gamma-turn structure also in models able to adopt the beta-bend conformation.

Expedient one-pot synthesis of novel chiral 2-substituted 5-phenyl-1,4-benzodiazepine scaffolds from amino acid-derived amino nitriles

An efficient and stereocontrolled synthesis of phenylalanine- and tryptophan-derived 5-phenyl-1,4-benzodiazepines is described. This new methodology involves, as a key step, the synthesis of 5-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-1,4-benzodiazepines by a one-pot cyano reduction and reductive cyclization of the appropriate amino nitrile, which were obtained via a modified Strecker reaction of N-protected alpha-amino aldehydes with 2-aminobenzophenone and trimethylsilyl cyanide. The subsequent reduction of these 2,3-dihydro-1H-1,4-benzodiazepines, followed by regioselective alkylation or acylation at position 4, led to 2,4-disubstituted-5-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1,4-benzodiazepine.