The Davis-Beirut reaction: N1,N2-disubstituted-1H-indazolones via 1,6-electrophilic addition to 3-alkoxy-2H-indazoles

Resorcinol-based hemiindigoid derivatives as human tyrosinase inhibitors and melanogenesis suppressors in human melanoma cells

Human tyrosinase (hsTYR) catalyzes the key steps of melanogenesis, making it a privileged target for reducing melanin production in vivo. However, very few hsTYR inhibitors have been reported so far in the literature, whereas thousands of mushroom tyrosinase (abTYR) inhibitors are known. Yet, as these enzymes are actually very different, including at their active sites, there is an urgent need for new true hsTYR inhibitors in order to enable human-directed pharmacological and dermocosmetic applications without encountering the inefficiency and toxicity issues currently triggered by kojic acid or hydroquinone. Starting from the two most active compounds reported to date, i.e. a 2-hydroxypyridine-embedded aurone and thiamidol, we combined herein key structural elements and developed new nanomolar hsTYR inhibitors with cell-based activity. From a complete series of thirty-eight synthesized derivatives, excellent inhibition values were obtained for two compounds in both human melanoma cell lysates and purified hsTYR assays, and a promising improvement was observed in whole cell experiments.

Synthesis of Hydrazides from N-Tosylhydrazones and Its Application in the Preparation of Indazolones

We have developed a facile synthesis of hydrazides from N-tosylhydrazones under metal-free conditions. The reactions were suitable for different substrates and had excellent tolerance to various substituents. Meanwhile, a series of indazolones could be prepared from corresponding o-bromobenzohydrazides under mild conditions.

Synthesis of quaternary carbon-centered indolo[1,2-a]quinazolinones and indazolo[1,2-a]indazolones via C-H functionalization

An unprecedented Ru(ii)-catalyzed Csp2-H bond activation and annulation reaction of phenylindazolones with diaryl-substituted alkynes and dialkyl-substituted alkynes provided efficient routes for the construction of all-carbon quaternary-centered indolo[1,2-a]quinazolinones and quaternary carbon-centered indazolo[1,2-a]indazolones, respectively. The indolo[1,2-a]quinazolinones were fomed via Csp2-H activation, alkyne insertion and a 1,2-phenyl shift. Indazolo[1,2-a]indazolones were formed through a cascade reaction via the formation of exocyclic double bonds containing indolo[1,2-a]quinazolinones.

Davis-Beirut Reaction: Diverse Chemistries of Highly Reactive Nitroso Intermediates in Heterocycle Synthesis

Indazoles are an important class of nitrogen heterocycles because of their excellent performance in biologically relevant applications, such as in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry. In these applications, convenient synthesis using commercially available and diverse building blocks is highly desirable. Within this broad class, 2H-indazoles are relatively underexploited when compared to 1H-indazole, perhaps because of regioselectivity issues associated with the synthesis of 2H-indazoles. This Account describes our unfolding of the synthetic utility of the Davis-Beirut reaction (DBR) for the construction of 2H-indazoles and their derivatives; parallel unfoldings of mechanistic models for these interrelated N-N bond forming reactions are also summarized. The Davis-Beirut reaction is a robust method that exploits the diverse chemistries of a key nitroso imine or nitroso benzaldehyde intermediate generated in situ under redox neutral conditions. The resulting N-N bond-forming heterocyclization between nucleophilic and electrophilic nitrogens can be leveraged for the synthesis of multiple classes of indazoles and their derivatives, such as simple or fused indazolones, thiazolo-indazoles, 3-alkoxy-2H-indazoles, 2H-indazole N-oxides, and 2H-indazoles with various substitutions on the ring system or the nitrogens. These diverse products can all be synthesized under alkaline conditions and the various strategies for accessing these heterocycles are discussed. Alternatively, we have also developed methods involving mild photochemical conditions for the nitrobenzyl → aci-nitro → nitroso imine sequence. Solvent consideration is especially important for modulating the chemistry of the reactive intermediates in these reactions; the presence of water is critically important in some cases, but water's beneficial effect has a ceiling because of the alternative reaction pathways it enables. Fused 2H-indazoles readily undergo ring opening reactions to give indazolones when treated with nucleophiles or electrophiles. Furthermore, palladium-catalyzed cross coupling, the Sonagashira reaction, EDC amide coupling, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions with nitrile oxides, copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloadditions (click reaction), as well as copper-free click reactions, can all be used late-stage to modify 2H-indazoles and indazolones. The continued development and applications of the Davis-Beirut reaction has provided many insights for taming the reactivity of highly reactive nitro and nitroso groups, which still has a plethora of underexplored chemistries and challenges. For example, there is currently a limited number of nonfused 2H-indazole examples containing an aryl substitution at nitrogen. This is caused by relatively slow N-N bond formation between N-aryl imine and nitroso reactants, which allows water to add to the key nitroso imine intermediate causing imine bond cleavage to be a competitive reaction pathway rather than proceeding through the desired N-N bond-forming heterocyclization.

Davis-Beirut Reaction: A Photochemical Brønsted Acid Catalyzed Route to N-Aryl 2H-Indazoles

The Davis-Beirut reaction provides access to 2H-indazoles from aromatic nitro compounds. However, N-aryl targets have been traditionally challenging to access due to competitive alternate reaction pathways. Previously, the key nitroso imine intermediate was generated under alkaline conditions, but as reported here, the photochemistry of o-nitrobenzyl alcohols empowered Brønsted acid catalyzed conditions for accessing N-aryl targets. Anilines and alkyl amines give different outcomes under optimized conditions; the proposed mechanism was studied using quantum chemical calculations.

Access to 2-substituted-2H-indazoles via a copper-catalyzed regioselective cross-coupling reaction

A CuCl catalyzed C-N cross-coupling reaction using commercially available 1H-indazoles with diaryliodonium salts is described. The methodology features ample structural versatility, affording 2-substituted-2H-indazole in good yields and complete N(2)-regiocontrol. Furthermore, the utility of the reaction was demonstrated in the synthesis of a known estrogen receptor β agonist. Mechanistic studies using density functional theory calculations suggested that the complete regioselectivity can be attributed to the only weak base TfO^- in our system which could not deprotonate indazoles, and the catalyst oxidation process would be the rate-determining step.

N-N Bond Formation between Primary Amines and Nitrosos: Direct Synthesis of 2-Substituted Indazolones with Mechanistic Insights

A concise, one-step route to indazolones from primary alkyl amines and o-nitrobenzyl alcohols is reported. The key step in this readily scalable indazolone forming process involves base-mediated in situ o-nitrobenzyl alcohol → o-nitrosobenzaldehyde conversion. Although this functional group interconversion is known to be useful for 2 H-indazole synthesis, its reactivity was modulated for indazolone formation.

Davis-Beirut Reaction: Alkoxide versus Hydroxide Addition to the Key o-Nitrosoimine Intermediate

Reaction options, alkoxide vs hydroxide vs amine addition to the key intermediate (o-nitrosoimine) generated in the Davis-Beirut reaction of an o-nitrobenzylamine substrate, are reported to explain the nucleophilic addition selectivity of this one-pot indazole-forming process. The hydroxide addition/deprotection pathway as well as the fate of the resulting o-nitrosobenzaldehyde were both uncovered with several o-nitrobenzylamine substrates, and design elements required for an efficient double Davis-Beirut reaction, inspired by new mechanistic insights, were defined.

Inhibition of myeloperoxidase: evaluation of 2H-indazoles and 1H-indazolones

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) produces hypohalous acids as a key component of the innate immune response; however, release of these acids extracellularly results in inflammatory cell and tissue damage. The two-step, one-pot Davis-Beirut reaction was used to synthesize a library of 2H-indazoles and 1H-indazolones as putative inhibitors of MPO. A structure-activity relationship study was undertaken wherein compounds were evaluated utilizing taurine-chloramine and MPO-mediated H2O2 consumption assays. Docking studies as well as toxicophore and Lipinski analyses were performed. Fourteen compounds were found to be potent inhibitors with IC50 values <1μM, suggesting these compounds could be considered as potential modulators of pro-oxidative tissue injury pertubated by the inflammatory MPO/H2O2/HOCl/HOBr system.

Davis-Beirut reaction: route to thiazolo-, thiazino-, and thiazepino-2H-indazoles

Methods for the construction of thiazolo-, thiazino-, and thiazepino-2H-indazoles from o-nitrobenzaldehydes or o-nitrobenzyl bromides and S-trityl-protected 1°-aminothioalkanes are reported. The process consists of formation of the requisite N-(2-nitrobenzyl)(tritylthio)alkylamine, subsequent deprotection of the trityl moiety with TFA, and immediate treatment with aq. KOH in methanol under Davis–Beirut reaction conditions to deliver the target thiazolo-, thiazino-, or thiazepino-2H-indazole in good overall yield. Subsequent S-oxidation gives the corresponding sulfone.

Heterocycle-heterocycle strategies: (2-nitrophenyl)isoxazole precursors to 4-aminoquinolines, 1H-indoles, and quinolin-4(1H)-ones

Reductive heterocycle-heterocycle (heterocycle → heterocycle; H-H) transformations that give 4-aminoquinolines, 3-acylindoles, and quinolin-4(1H)-ones from 2-nitrophenyl substituted isoxazoles are reported. When this methodology is applied to 3,5-, 4,5-, and 3,4-bis(2-nitrophenyl)isoxazoles, chemoselective heterocyclization gives quinolin-4(1H)-ones, and 4-aminoquinolines, exclusively.

Acid and base catalyzed Davis-Beirut reaction: experimental and theoretical mechanistic studies and synthesis of novel 3-amino-2H-indazoles

The Davis-Beirut reaction, which provides an efficient synthesis of 2H-indazoles and, subsequently, indazolones, is shown to proceed rapidly from o-nitrosobenzaldehyde and primary amines under both acid or base catalysis. Experimental and theoretical evidence in support of a reaction mechanism is provided in which o-nitrosobenzylidine imine is a pivotal intermediate in this N,N-bond forming heterocyclization reaction. The Davis-Beirut reaction is also shown to effectively synthesize a number of novel 3-amino-2H-indazole derivatives.

A one-pot-three-step route to triazolotriazepinoindazolones from oxazolino-2H-indazoles

A one-pot-three-step method has been developed for the conversion of oxazolino-2H-indazoles into triazolotriazepinoindazolones with three points of diversity. Step one of this process involves a propargyl bromide-initiated ring opening of the oxazolino-2H-indazole (available by the Davis-Beirut reaction) to give an N(1)-(propargyl)-N(2)-(2-bromoethyl)-disubstituted indazolone, which then undergoes -CH(2)Br → -CH(2)N(3) displacement (step two) followed by an uncatalyzed intramolecular azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (step three) to form the target heterocycle. Employing 7-bromooxazolino-2H-indazole allows for further diversification through, for example, palladium-catalyzed coupling chemistry, as reported here.

7-Substituted 8-aza-7-deazaadenosines for modification of the siRNA major groove

Here we describe the synthesis of new 7-substituted 8-aza-7-deazaadenosine ribonucleoside phosphoramidites and their use in generating major groove-modified duplex RNAs. A 7-ethynyl analog leads to further structural diversification of the RNA via post-automated RNA synthesis azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions. In addition, we report preliminary studies on the effects of eight different purine 7-position modifications on RNA duplex stability and pairing specificity. Finally, the effect on RNAi activity of this type of modification at eight different positions in an siRNA guide strand has been explored. Analogs were identified with large 7-position substituents that maintain adenosine pairing specificity and are well-tolerated at specific positions in an siRNA guide strand.

Catalytic stereoselective synthesis of diverse oxindoles and spirooxindoles from isatins

A strategy for the efficient two-step synthesis of triazole derivatives of oxindoles and spirooxindoles is presented. Using a common set of N-propargylated isatins, a series of mechanistically distinct stereoselective reactions with different combinations of nucleophiles and catalysts provide access to diverse hydroxy-oxindoles, spiroindolones, and spirocyclic oxazoline structures. The resulting N-propargylated oxindoles are then converted to triazoles using copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reactions. Overall, this strategy affords a 64-member pilot-scale library of diverse oxindoles and spirooxindoles.

Isoxazolodihydropyridinones: 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides onto 2,4-dioxopiperidines

Practical and efficient methods have been developed for the diversity-oriented synthesis of isoxazolodihydropyridinones via the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides onto 2,4-dioxopiperidines. A select few of these isoxazolodihydropyridinones were further elaborated with triazoles by copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions. A total of 70 compounds and intermediates were synthesized and analyzed for drug likeness. Sixty-four of these novel compounds were submitted to the NIH Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository for high-throughput biological screening.