Atorvastatin: a review of its pharmacological properties and use in familial hypercholesterolemia

Atropostatin: Design and Total Synthesis of an Atropisomeric Lactone–Atorvastatin Prodrug

Atorvastatins play an important role in the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme present in the liver that takes part in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. In this article, we report the total synthesis of a lactone–atorvastatin prodrug with additional atropisomeric features. Conformational and experimental studies of model compounds were designed to test the stability of the chiral axis. Docking calculations were performed to evaluate the constant inhibition of a library of atorvastatins. Full synthesis of the best candidate was achieved and thermally stable atropisomeric lactone–atorvastatin was obtained. The absolute configuration of the chiral axis of the atropisomers was assigned by means of chiroptical ECD spectroscopy coupled with TD-DFT calculations.

Characterization of two new degradation products of atorvastatin calcium formed upon treatment with strong acids

Atorvastatin calcium (Lipitor^®, Sortis^®) is a well-established cholesterol synthesis enzyme (CSE) inhibitor commonly used in the therapy of hypercholesterolemia. This drug is known to be sensitive to acid treatment, but only little data has been published on the structures of the degradation products. Here we report the identification of two novel degradation products of atorvastatin, which are formed only under drastic acidic conditions. While treatment with conc. sulfuric acid led to a loss of the carboxanilide residue (accompanied by an expectable lactonization/dehydration process in the side chain), treatment with conc. aqueous hydrochloric acid gave a complex, bridged molecule under C–C-bond formation of the lactone moiety with the pyrrole, migration of the isopropyl group and loss of the carboxanilide residue. The novel degradation products were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, HRMS data and X-ray crystal structure analysis.

Ni(0)–Cu(i): a powerful combo catalyst for simultaneous coupling and cleavage of the C–N bond with cyclization to valuable amide-based pyrroles and 4-pyridones

We demonstrate unprecedented Ni(0)–Cu(i) combo catalysis for sequential bond activated domino N–C/C–C coupled annulation with N–C bond cleavage to afford valuable amide-based polysubstituted pyrroles and 4-pyridones selectively from β-ketoanilides.