Expeditious Syntheses of Conjugated Allenyl Esters and Oxazoles through a Cascade Reaction of .ALPHA.-Alkynyl Malonates under Alkaline Conditions

Development of a synthetic equivalent of α,α-dicationic acetic acid leading to unnatural amino acid derivatives via tetrafunctionalized methanes

Diethyl mesoxalate (DEMO) exhibits high electrophilicity and accepts the nucleophilic addition of a less nucleophilic acid amide to afford N,O-hemiacetal. However, our research showed that elimination of the amide moiety proceeded more easily than dehydration upon treatment with a base. This problem was overcome by reacting DEMO with an acid amide in the presence of acetic anhydride to efficiently obtain N,O-acetal. Acetic acid was eliminated leading to the formation of N-acylimine in situ upon treatment with the base. N-Acylimine is also electrophilic, accepting the second nucleophilic addition by pyrrole or indole to form α,α-disubstituted malonates. Subsequent hydrolysis followed by decarboxylation resulted in (α-indolyl-α-acylamino)acetic acid formation; homologs of tryptophan. Through this process, DEMO serves as a synthetic equivalent of α,α-dicationic acetic acid to facilitate nucleophilic introduction of the two substituents.

Synthesis of 2,3-allenylamides utilizing [1,2]-phospha-Brook rearrangement and their application to gold-catalyzed cycloisomerization providing 2-aminofuran derivatives

An efficient synthetic method for 2,3-allenylamides having an oxygen functionality at the 2-position was newly developed by utilizing the [1,2]-phospha-Brook rearrangement under Brønsted base catalysis.

How easy are the syntheses of allenes?

This short review highlights some of the recent important developments on the synthesis of allenes and its applications on the synthesis of some allenic natural products and allenic-based optoelectronic materials.

Development of an oxazole conjunctive reagent and application to the total synthesis of siphonazoles

The preparation of 4-carbethoxy-5-methyl-2-(phenylsulfonyl)methyloxazole and its use in the elaboration of more complex oxazoles are described. A total synthesis of the unique natural products siphonazoles A and B, illustrates an application of this building block. A discussion of the biological activity of the siphonazoles is also presented.

Possible involvement of radical intermediates in the inhibition of cysteine proteases by allenyl esters and amides

In order to investigate crystallographically the mechanism of inhibition of cysteine protease by alpha-methyl-gamma,gamma-diphenylallenecarboxylic acid ethyl ester 3, a cysteine protease inhibitor having in vivo stability, we synthesized N-(alpha-methyl-gamma,gamma-diphenylallenecarbonyl)-L-phenylalanine ethyl ester 4. Reaction of 4 with thiophenol, the SH group of which has similar pK(a) value to that of cysteine protease, produced oxygen-mediated radical adducts 6 and 7 in ambient air but did not proceed under oxygen-free conditions. Catalytic activities of two thiol enzymes including cathepsin B were also lowered in the absence of oxygen. These results suggest that cysteine protease can act through an oxygen-dependent radical mechanism.