A Tandem Cross-Metathesis/Semipinacol Rearrangement Reaction

Divergent Synthesis of Bicyclo[3.2.1]octenes and Cyclohexenes via Catalytic Annulations of Nazarov Reagent and Vinyl 1,2-Diketones

Bicyclo[3.2.1]octanes and related structures are unique units that widely exist in natural products, but the rapid and stereoselective construction of this skeleton is a challenging issue. We report the stereodivergent synthesis of bicyclo[3.2.1]octenes using Nazarov reagents and alkenyl 1,2-diketones with Brønsted base catalysis under mild conditions. Both stereoisomers of the bridged products can be obtained by tuning the reaction conditions, and cyclohexene product can also be selectively formed.

Synthesis and biological profiling of parthenolide ether analogs

Parthenolide (PTL) strongly inhibits the detyrosination of microtubules and accelerates neuronal growth. In order to access cyclic ether derivatives of PTL, ring-closing metathesis (RCM) was investigated in comparison to intramolecular sulfone alkylation. Incompatibility of RCM with epoxides was found in this setting. Biological evaluation for tubulin carboxypeptidase inhibition indicated that the epoxide is crucial for parthenolide's activity.

Automatic mapping of atoms across both simple and complex chemical reactions

Mapping atoms across chemical reactions is important for substructure searches, automatic extraction of reaction rules, identification of metabolic pathways, and more. Unfortunately, the existing mapping algorithms can deal adequately only with relatively simple reactions but not those in which expert chemists would benefit from computer's help. Here we report how a combination of algorithmics and expert chemical knowledge significantly improves the performance of atom mapping, allowing the machine to deal with even the most mechanistically complex chemical and biochemical transformations. The key feature of our approach is the use of few but judiciously chosen reaction templates that are used to generate plausible "intermediate" atom assignments which then guide a graph-theoretical algorithm towards the chemically correct isomorphic mappings. The algorithm performs significantly better than the available state-of-the-art reaction mappers, suggesting its uses in database curation, mechanism assignments, and - above all - machine extraction of reaction rules underlying modern synthesis-planning programs.

Synthetic Access to the Mandelalide Family of Macrolides: Development of an Anion Relay Chemistry Strategy

The mandelalides comprise a family of structurally complex marine macrolides that display significant cytotoxicity against several human cancer cell lines. Presented here is a full account on the development of an Anion Relay Chemistry (ARC) strategy for the total synthesis of (-)-mandelalides A and L, the two most potent members of the mandelalide family. The design and implementation of a three-component type II ARC/cross-coupling protocol and a four-component type I ARC union permits rapid access respectively to the key tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran structural motifs of these natural products. Other highlights of the synthesis include an osmium-catalyzed oxidative cyclization of an allylic 1,3-diol, a mild Yamaguchi esterification to unite the northern and southern hemispheres, and a late-stage Heck macrocyclization. Synthetic mandelalides A and L displayed potent cytotoxicity against human HeLa cervical cancer cells (EC50, 1.3 and 3.1 nM, respectively). This synthetic approach also provides access to several highly potent non-natural mandelalide analogs, including a biotin-tagged mandelalide probe for future biological investigation.

Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Cyclocitrinol

The first and asymmetric total synthesis of cyclocitrinol, an unusual C25 steroid, has been accomplished in a linear sequence of 18 steps from commercially available compound 11. The synthetically challenging bicyclo[4.4.1] A/B ring system with a strained bridgehead (anti-Bredt) double bond of cyclocitrinol was constructed efficiently and diastereoselectively via a type II intramolecular [5 + 2] cycloaddition.

Synthesis of a series of novel heteroglycoclusters and homoglycoclusters and the study of their anti-adhesion activities

A new series of mixed-type heteroglycoclusters containing mannose and lactose were synthesized. In the synthesis of rigid scaffold of heteroglycocluster, we found that trans-isomer could be prepared stereoselectively by means of Grubbs olefin cross-metathesis reactions. Moreover, sequential acylation using cyclic anhydride as scaffold could give cis-isomer. These two methods may provide complementarity of stereochemistry in heteroglycocluster assembling. The anti-adhesion activities of these compounds were assessed by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and static state cell-based adhesion assay. These results indicated that the rigid scaffold might not affect the anti-adhesion activities.

Tandem catalysis in domino olefin cross-metathesis/intramolecular oxa-conjugate cyclization: concise synthesis of 2,6-cis-substituted tetrahydropyran derivatives

Herein, we describe the concise synthesis of 2,6-cis-substituted tetrahydropyran derivatives based on a domino olefin cross-metathesis/intramolecular oxa-conjugate cyclization (CM/IOCC) reaction. We have found that the domino CM/IOCC of δ-hydroxy olefins with α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (e.g., trans-crotonaldehyde or N-acryloyl-2,5-dimethylpyrrole) could be efficiently achieved in the presence of the second-generation Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst under elevated temperature conditions, directly affording 2,6-cis-substituted tetrahydropyrans in excellent yields with synthetically useful diastereoselectivity ("auto-tandem catalysis"). In addition, we have found that the domino CM/IOCC of δ-hydroxy olefins with α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds could be achieved simply by performing CM in the presence of a Brønsted acid in CH(2)Cl(2) at 25-35 °C, which delivered 2,6-cis-substituted tetrahydropyrans in good yields with excellent diastereoselectivity ("orthogonal-tandem catalysis"). To understand the mechanism of auto-tandem catalysis in the domino CM/IOCC reaction, we have investigated the role of ruthenium hydride complexes in the IOCC of a ζ-hydroxy α,β-unsaturated ketone as a model case.

Direct syntheses of spiro- and fused-hydrofurans by a tunable tandem semipinacol rearrangement/oxa-Michael addition protocol

A highly chemoselective one-pot reaction has been developed involving a tandem semipinacol rearrangement/oxa-Michael addition sequence in which the in situ generated ketol diene intermediate can be transformed specifically to either the spiro- or fused-dihydrofuran products (see scheme). This one-pot tandem reaction represents a general synthetic methodology for the syntheses of the two different kinds of furan derivatives.