Fluorinated Analogues of Desferrioxamine B from Precursor-Directed Biosynthesis Provide New Insight into the Capacity of DesBCD

The siderophore desferrioxamine B (DFOB, 1) native to Streptomyces pilosus is biosynthesized by the DesABCD enzyme cluster. DesA-mediated decarboxylation of l-lysine gives 1,5-diaminopentane (DP) for processing by DesBCD. S. pilosus culture medium was supplemented with rac-1,4-diamino-2-fluorobutane ( rac-FDB) to compete against DP to generate fluorinated analogues of DFOB, as agents of potential clinical interest. LC-MS/MS analysis identified fluorinated analogues of DFOB with one, two, or three DP units (binary notation: 0) exchanged for one (DFOA-F₁[001] (2), DFOA-F₁[010] (3), DFOA-F₁[100] (4)), two (DFOA-F₂[011] (5), DFOA-F₂[110] (6), DFOA-F₂[101] (7)), or three (DFOA-F₃[111] (8)) rac-FDB units (binary notation: 1). The two sets of constitutional isomers 2-4 and 5-7 arose from the position of the substrates in the N-acetyl, internal, or amine-containing regions of the DFOB trimer. N-Acetylated fluorinated DFOB analogues were formed where the rac-FDB substrate was positioned in the amine region ( e.g., N-Ac-DFOA-F₁[001] (2a)). Other analogues contained two hydroxamic acid groups and three amide bonds. Experiments using rac-FDB, R-FDB, or S-FDB showed a similar species profile between rac-FDB and R-FDB. These data are consistent with the following. (i) DesB can act on rac-FDB. (ii) DesC can act directly on rac-FDB. (iii) The products of DesBC or DesC catalysis of rac-FDB can undergo a second round of DesC catalysis at the free amine. (iv) DesD catalysis of these products gives N, N'-diacetylated compounds. (v) A minimum of two hydroxamic acid groups is required to form a viable DesD-substrate(s) precomplex. (vi) One or more DesBCD-catalyzed steps in DFOB biosynthesis is enantioselective. This work has provided a potential path to access fluorinated analogues of DFOB and new insight into its biosynthesis.

Imaginative Order from Reasonable Chaos: Conformation-Driven Activity and Reactivity in Exploring Protein–Ligand Interactions

Sir Derek Barton’s seminal work on steroid conformational analysis opened up a new era of enquiry into how the preferred conformation of any molecule could have profound effects on its physical–chemical properties and activities. Conformation-based effects on molecular activity and reactivity continue to manifest, with one key area of investigation currently focussed on conformational entropy in driving protein–ligand interactions. Carrying on from Barton’s initial insight on natural product conformational properties, new questions now address how conformational flexibility within a bioactive natural product structural framework (reasonable chaos), can be directed to confer dynamically new protein–ligand interactions beyond the basic lock–key model (imaginative order). Here we summarise our work on exploring conformational diversity from fluorinated natural product fragments, and how this approach of conformation-coupled diversity-oriented synthesis can be used to iteratively derive ligands with enhanced specificity against highly homologous protein domains. Our results demonstrate that the conformation entropic states of highly conserved protein domains differ significantly, and this conformational diversity, beyond primary sequence analysis, can be duly captured and exploited by natural-product derived ligands with complementary conformational dynamics for enhancing recognition specificity in drug lead discovery.

Fluorination of some highly functionalized cycloalkanes: chemoselectivity and substrate dependence

A study exploring the chemical behavior of some dihydroxylated β-amino ester stereo- and regioisomers, derived from unsaturated cyclic β-amino acids is described. The nucleophilic fluorinations involving hydroxy-fluorine exchange of some highly functionalized alicyclic diol derivatives have been carried out in view of selective fluorination, investigating substrate dependence, neighboring group assistance and chemodifferentiation.

Divergent response of homologous ATP sites to stereospecific ligand fluorination for selectivity enhancement

Acquiring a divergent response from homologous protein domains is essential for selective ligand-protein interactions. Stereospecific fluorination of (-)-balanol, an ATP mimic, uncovers a new source of selectivity from integrated chemical and conformational perturbation that differentiates homologous sites by the level of congruency in their response to local and remote fluorine effects.

Crystal structure of (4R,5S,6R)-6-azido-5-benz-yloxy-3,3,4-tri-fluoro-azepan-1-ium 2,2,2-tri-fluoro-acetate from synchrotron data

The structure of the title compound, C15H16F6N4O3, was determined using synchrotron radiation on an extremely small crystal (0.015 × 0.01 × 0.01 mm). Although the diffraction was weak, leading to high residuals and a poor data-to-parameter ratio, the data allowed ready solution and refinement to reveal the entire structure. The solid-state structure is in accordance with the absolute configuration assigned based on that of the known starting material. The compound comprises a highly substituted seven-membered N-heterocyclic cation and a tri-fluoro-methane-sulfonate counter-anion. The title compound crystallizes with two independent cations (A and B) and anions (C and D) in the asymmetric unit. Two geminal F atoms, a single F atom, a benzyl ether and an azide group are substituted on consecutive C atoms between the NH2 and CH2 units of the azepan-1-ium ring system. The seven-membered rings adopt different conformations with the principal differences occurring in the CF2CHFCH2 segments of the ring systems. The geminal F atoms on the quaternary C atom exhibit essentially identical bond angles [109 (2) and 106 (2)°] in the two independent mol-ecules. The two mol-ecules associate as a dimeric unit via two C-H⋯F inter-actions. An extensive series of N-H⋯O, N-H⋯F, C-H⋯O, C-H⋯N, C-H⋯F and C-H⋯π contacts generate a three-dimensional network with cations and anions linked into ABCD repeat columns along a.