An Alternative Synthesis of 1,1′-Bis-valienamine from d-Glucose

Carbasugar Synthesis via Vinylogous Ketal: Total Syntheses of (+)-MK7607, (-)-MK7607, (-)-Gabosine A, (-)-Epoxydine B, (-)-Epoxydine C, epi-(+)-Gabosine E and epi-(+)-MK7607

Carbasugars, the carbocyclic analogues of sugars, constitute an important class of natural products with more than 140 members known and have attracted much attention due to their diverse biological activities like anticancer, antibacterial, herbicidal, and various enzyme inhibitory activities. As many carbohydrates are involved in various cellular signaling pathways, there is great interest in synthesis and biological exploration of carbasugars. Herein, we have developed a methodology to install an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde functionality on different inositols and derivatives by vinylogous elimination of the O-protecting group under mildly acidic condition. We have illustrated the versatility and utility of our methodology by the total syntheses of seven carbasugars viz. (-)-MK7607, (-)-gabosine A, (-)-epoxydine B, (-)-epoxydine C, (+)-MK7607, 1-epi-(+)-MK7607 and 1-epi-(+)-gabosine E.

Intramolecular direct aldol reactions of sugar 2,7-diketones: syntheses of hydroxylated cycloalka(e)nones

A regio- and stereoselective intramolecular direct aldol reaction of 2,7-diketones derived from carbohydrates has been developed to construct cycloalkanones 7, which were dehydrated to obtain heavily oxygenated cycloalkenones 8.

Total syntheses and structural validation of lincitol A, lincitol B, uvacalol I, uvacalol J, and uvacalol K

First total syntheses of lincitol A, lincitol B, uvacalol I, uvacalol J and uvacalol K were achieved in racemic form, validating their structure from a common intermediate, which was synthesized in six steps from low-cost and extensively available myo-inositol.

Synthesis of chiral hydroxylated enones as potential anti-tumor agents

A series of chiral hydroxylated enones were synthesized as COTC ether analogues to investigate the structural features required for optimal and selective anti-tumor activity. The cytotoxicity of the seven COTC ether analogues against WRL-68 normal and HepG2, HL-60 cancer cell lines were measured. C-4 ether analogues with an aliphatic chain substituent were found to be more favorable than their aromatic counterparts. Inversion of the configuration at C-4 in 5e to give 5f only resulted in reduced selectivity towards cancer cells. These results show that 4-O-pentyl-gabosine D (5e) has optimum selectivity and cytotoxicity towards two cancer cell lines.