Diastereospecific Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Polysubstituted Azetidines from 1,3-Amino Alcohols with Three Chiral Centers

Stereoselective and diversity-oriented synthesis of trisubstituted allylic alcohols and amines

Stereoselective and diversity-oriented synthesis of trisubstituted olefins was achieved by using ortho-diphenylphosphanyl benzoate (o-DPPB) as a directing group for allylic substitution. The starting point of this methodology was a set of α-methylene aldehydes derived from Baylis-Hillman adducts. Subsequent addition of different organometallic reagents led to a variety of allylic alcohol substrates. After introduction of the reagent-directing o-DPPB group, copper-mediated allylic substitution with a wide range of Grignard reagents enabled the stereoselective construction of a large number of E-configured trisubstituted allylic alcohols and amines in excellent yields and stereoselectivities. Remarkable is the synthetic flexibility, which allows a wide range of permutations starting from an aldehyde followed by successive introduction of the substituents R(2) and R(3) from organometallic Grignard based reagents. Thus, starting from only a few precursors, a diversity-oriented synthesis of stereodefined trisubstituted allylic alcohols and amines becomes possible.

Novel acetylcholine and carbamoylcholine analogues: development of a functionally selective alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist

A series of carbamoylcholine and acetylcholine analogues were synthesized and characterized pharmacologically at neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Several of the compounds displayed low nanomolar binding affinities to the alpha4beta2 nAChR and pronounced selectivity for this subtype over alpha3beta4, alpha4beta4, and alpha7 nAChRs. The high nAChR activity of carbamoylcholine analogue 5d was found to reside in its R-enantiomer, a characteristic most likely true for all other compounds in the series. Interestingly, the pronounced alpha4beta2 selectivities exhibited by some of the compounds in the binding assays translated into functional selectivity. Compound 5a was a fairly potent partial alpha4beta2 nAChR agonist with negligible activities at the alpha3beta4 and alpha7 subtypes, thus being one of the few truly functionally selective alpha4beta2 nAChR agonists published to date. Ligand-protein docking experiments using homology models of the amino-terminal domains of alpha4beta2 and alpha3beta4 nAChRs identified residues Val111(beta2)/Ile113(beta4), Phe119(beta2)/Gln121(beta4), and Thr155(alpha4)/Ser150(alpha3) as possible key determinants of the alpha4beta2/alpha3beta4-selectivity displayed by the analogues.