Palladium-Catalyzed anti-Michael-Type Hydroamination of N-(Quinolin-8-yl)acrylamide with 2-Pyridones

Here we report a palladium-catalyzed anti-Michael-type hydroamination of N-(quinolin-8-yl)acrylamide with 2-pyridones. The use of a palladium catalyst enables the α-addition of 2-pyridones, resulting in the formation of a range of N-substituted 2-pyridone carboxamides with yields ranging from 10% to 80%. Derivatization of the products highlights the utility of this transformation. Preliminary mechanistic investigations suggest that the reaction proceeds through the direct addition of a nitrogen atom of 2-pyridones, ruling out other pathways such as O-to-N-alkyl migration.

Introducing the NUATEI Consortium: A Mexican Research Program for the Identification of Natural and Synthetic Antimicrobial Compounds for Prevalent Infectious Diseases

The need for new drugs to treat human infections is a global health concern. Diseases like tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, amoebiasis, and AIDS remain significant problems, especially in developing countries like Mexico. Despite existing treatments, issues such as resistance and adverse effects drive the search for new alternatives. Herein, we introduce the NUATEI research consortium, made up of experts from the Institute of Biomedical Research at UNAM, who identify and obtain natural and synthetic compounds and test their effects against human pathogens using in vitro and in vivo models. The consortium has evaluated hundreds of natural extracts and compounds against the pathogens causing tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, amoebiasis, and AIDS, rendering promising results, including a patent with potential for preclinical studies. This paper presents the rationale behind the formation of this consortium, as well as its objectives and strategies, emphasizing the importance of natural and synthetic products as sources of antimicrobial compounds and the relevance of the diseases studied. Finally, we briefly describe the methods of the evaluation of the compounds in each biological model and the main achievements. The potential of the consortium to screen numerous compounds and identify new therapeutic agents is highlighted, demonstrating its significant contribution to addressing these infectious diseases.

Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Arylation of α-Bromo Sulfoxide

A nickel-catalyzed cross-electrophile coupling of aryl iodides with α-bromo sulfoxide to access a diverse array of aryl benzyl sulfoxides has been discovered. These reactions occurred under mild conditions with excellent functional group tolerance so that optically enriched sulfoxides could be coupled with aryl iodides, generating corresponding sulfoxides with excellent stereochemical integrity. Furthermore, the scalability of this transformation was demonstrated. Initial mechanistic studies revealed that the reaction undergoes a radical pathway.

3D-QSAR, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics analysis of novel biphenyl-substituted pyridone derivatives as potent HIV-1 NNRTIs

When designing new medications targeting HIV-1, drug designers concentrate on reverse transcriptase (RT), the central enzyme of their concern. This is due to its vital role in converting single-stranded RNA into double-stranded DNA throughout the life cycle of HIV-1. In recent reports, a series of newly discovered pyridone derivatives with biphenyl substitutions have emerged as highly potent HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), displaying impressive antiviral activity. To analyse the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) of pyridone inhibitors with biphenyl substitutions, we employed CoMFA and CoMSIA methods in this study. The dataset comprises a total of 51 compounds. The findings of this research demonstrate that both the CoMFA (q2=0.688, r2=0.976, rpred2=0.831) and CoMSIA/SHE (q2=0.758, r2=0.968, rpred2=0.828) models exhibit excellent predictive capability and reliable estimation stability. According to the findings of the model, we designed a collection of eleven molecules that exhibit the potential for significantly improved predictive activity. We proceeded to investigate the binding patterns of these compounds to receptor proteins utilizing the molecular docking technique. To ensure the reliability of the docking results, we went on to validate them by conducting molecular dynamics simulations and performing accurate calculations of the binding free energy. Moreover, based on initial ADMET predictions, the results consistently indicate that the newly created molecule possesses favourable pharmacokinetic properties. This study will help to facilitate the development of efficient novel inhibitors that specifically target HIV-1's non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase (NNRTIs).Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Synthesis of Highly Conjugated Functionalized 2-Pyridones by Palladium-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Dicarbonation Reactions of N-(Furan-2-ylmethyl) Alkyne Amides and Alkenes as Coupling Partners

A mild, step-economical method for the synthesis of highly conjugated functionalized 2-pyridones from N-(furan-2-ylmethyl) alkyne amides is reported. This method involves Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidative dicarbonation reactions of alkynes with carbon nucleophiles of a furan ring and an acrylate or styrene as coupling partners. The UV-vis absorption spectra of some of the 2-pyridones indicated that they absorbed shortwave radiation, suggesting their potential utility for filtration of such radiation.

Alkynoates as Versatile and Powerful Chemical Tools for the Rapid Assembly of Diverse Heterocycles under Transition-Metal Catalysis: Recent Developments and Challenges

Heterocycles, heteroaromatics and spirocyclic entities are ubiquitous components of a wide plethora of synthetic drugs, biologically active natural products, marketed pharmaceuticals and agrochemical targets. Recognizing their high proportion in drugs and rich pharmacological potential, these invaluable structural motifs have garnered significant interest, thus enabling the development of efficient catalytic methodologies providing access to architecturally complex and diverse molecules with high atom-economy and low cost. These chemical processes not only allow the formation of diverse heterocycles but also utilize a range of flexible and easily accessible building units in a single operation to discover diversity-oriented synthetic approaches. Alkynoates are significantly important, diverse and powerful building blocks in organic chemistry due to their unique and inherent properties such as the electronic bias on carbon-carbon triple bonds posed by electron-withdrawing groups or the metallic coordination site provided by carbonyl groups. The present review highlights the comprehensive picture of the utility of alkynoates (2007-2019) for the synthesis of various heterocycles (> 50 types) using transition-metal catalysts (Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Ag, Au, Pt, Cu, Mn, Fe) in various forms. The valuable function of versatile alkynoates (bearing multifunctional groups) as simple and useful starting materials is explored, thus cyclizing with an array of coupling partners to deliver a broad range of oxygen-, nitrogen-, sulfur-containing heterocycles alongside fused-, and spiro-heterocyclic compounds. In addition, these examples will also focus the scope and reaction limitations, as well as mechanistic investigations into the synthesis of these heterocycles. The biological significance will also be discussed, citing relevant examples of drug molecules highlighting each class of heterocycles. This review summarizes the recent developments in the synthetic methods for the synthesis of various heterocycles using alkynoates as readily available starting materials under transition-metal catalysis.

Synthesis of N-alkylated 2-pyridones through Pummerer type reactions of activated sulfoxides and 2-fluoropyridine derivatives

N-Alkylated 2-pyridone products were obtained in good to excellent yields through a one-pot procedure involving either normal or interrupted Pummerer reactions between triflic anhydride activated sulfoxides and 2-fluoropyridine derivatives, followed by hydrolysis. This is a rare case that uses 2-fluoropyridine as a nucleophile in Pummerer type reactions.

Chemoinformatics: a perspective from an academic setting in Latin America

This perspective discusses the current progress of a chemoinformatics group in a major university in Latin America. Three major aspects are discussed in a critical manner: research, education, and collaboration with industry and other public research networks. It is also presented an overview of the progress in applied research and development of research concepts. Efforts to teach chemoinformatics at the undergraduate and graduate levels are discussed. It is addressed how the partnership with industry and other not-for-profit research institutions not only brings additional sources of funding but, more importantly, increases the impact of the multidisciplinary work and offers the students to be exposed to other research environments. We also discuss the main perspectives and challenges that remain to be addressed in these settings.