Chemical Synthesis of the Anti-COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir.

Remdesivir has become an important compound for the treatment of COVID-19. Here, we describe the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of this anti-COVID-19 drug. First, the P-racemic phosphoryl chloride is synthesized in a facile procedure. Then, it is possible to obtain the protected remdesivir via the organocatalytic asymmetric phosphorylation of protected nucleoside GS441524 with P-racemic phosphoryl chloride catalyzed by chiral bicyclic imidazole. Finally, remdesivir is easily prepared by deprotection. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Synthesis of 2-ethylbutyl (chloro(phenoxy)phosphoryl)-L-alaninate rac-4 Basic Protocol 2: Synthesis of chiral bicyclic imidazole Ad-DPI Basic Protocol 3: Synthesis of remdesivir.

Advances on Greener Asymmetric Synthesis of Antiviral Drugs via Organocatalysis.

Viral infections cause many severe human diseases, being responsible for remarkably high mortality rates. In this sense, both the academy and the pharmaceutical industry are continuously searching for new compounds with antiviral activity, and in addition, face the challenge of developing greener and more efficient methods to synthesize these compounds. This becomes even more important with drugs possessing stereogenic centers as highly enantioselective processes are required. In this minireview, the advances achieved to improve synthetic routes efficiency and sustainability of important commercially antiviral chiral drugs are discussed, highlighting the use of organocatalytic methods.

Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of the anti-COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir.

The catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the anti-COVID-19 drug Remdesivir has been realized by the coupling of the P-racemic phosphoryl chloride with protected nucleoside GS441524. The chiral bicyclic imidazole catalyst used is crucial for the dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DyKAT) to proceed smoothly with high reactivity and excellent stereoselectivity (96 % conv., 22:1 SP :RP ). Mechanistic studies showed that this DyKAT is a first-order visual kinetic reaction dependent on the catalyst concentration. The unique chiral bicyclic imidazole skeleton and carbamate substituent of the catalyst are both required for the racemization process, involving the phosphoryl chloride, and subsequent stereodiscriminating step. A 10 gram scale reaction was also conducted with comparably excellent results, showing its potential for industrial application.