Stereoselective Synthesis of Highly Functionalized 5- and 6-Membered Aminocyclitols Starting with a Readily Available 2-Azetidinone.

Stereoselective transformations of 4-vinyl-2-azetidinone derivative 4 into a variety of highly functionalized 6- and 5-membered carbocyclic compounds 7 and 9 were carried out using sequences involving sequential C1-N bond cleavage and Ru-catalyzed ring-closing metathesis. The derived carbocycles were further transformed into polyhydroxylated 6- and 5-membered aminocyclitols.

DBU-Promoted Dynamic Kinetic Resolution in Rh-Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of 5-Alkyl Cyclic Sulfamidate Imines: Stereoselective Synthesis of Functionalized 1,2-Amino Alcohols.

Dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR)-driven asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of 5-alkyl cyclic sulfamidate imine produces the corresponding sulfamidate with excellent levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity by employing a HCO2H/DBU mixture as the hydrogen source in the presence of the Noyori-type chiral Rh-catalyst at room temperature for 1 h. In this process, DKR was induced by DBU-promoted rapid racemization of the substrate. Stereoselective transformations of the resulting cyclic sulfamidates to functionalized enantiomerically enriched 1,2-amino alcohol and chiral amine substances are also described.

Tandem Rh-Catalyzed Oxidative C-H Olefination and Cyclization of Enantiomerically Enriched Benzo-1,3-Sulfamidates: Stereoselective Synthesis of trans-1,3-Disubstituted Isoindolines.

A tandem process, involving Rh(III)-catalyzed oxidative C-H olefination of enantiomerically enriched 4-aryl-benzo-1,3-sulfamidates and subsequent intramolecular aza-Michael cyclization has been developed. The reaction produces trans-benzosulfamidate-fused-1,3-disubstituted isoindolines as major products, in which the configurational integrity of the stereogenic center in the starting material is preserved. Further transformations of the benzosulfamidate-fused-1,3-disubstituted isoindolines are described.

Grignard-mediated rearrangement of trifluoroacetyl from dihydroisoquinoline enamides to afford tertiary trifluoromethylcarbinols.

Treatment of the trifluoroacetyl enamides of dihydroisoquinolines 2 with diverse Grignard reagents afforded tertiary trifluoromethyl-carbinols 4 by facilitating the addition of tertiary carbinols to the ß-carbon of enamides 2. Based on the confirmed formation of vinylogous amides 3, the transformation likely proceeds via unique acyl group rearrangement to the ß-carbon of the enamide and subsequent nucleophilic addition of the Grignard reagent. Given the synthetic utility and novelty of this reaction, this work may open new avenues for the synthesis of pharmaceutically important tertiary trifluoromethylcarbinols on cyclic enamide systems.

Stereoselective Synthesis of Functionalized 1,3-Disubstituted Isoindolines via Rh(III)-Catalyzed Tandem Oxidative Olefination-Cyclization of 4-Aryl-cyclic Sulfamidate-5-Carboxylates.

A new method for the direct, stereoselective synthesis of highly functionalized 1,3-disubstituted isoindolines 6 from enantiomerically enriched cyclic 4-aryl-sulfamidate-5-carboxylates (5) is described. The process involves sulfamidate directed, Rh(III)-catalyzed tandem ortho C-H olefination of the 4-aryl-sulfamidate-5-carboxylates and subsequent cyclization by aza-Michael addition. In the reaction, which generates trans-1,3-disubstituted isoindolines exclusively, the configurational integrity of the stereogenic center in the starting cyclic sulfamidate is completely retained in the product. Examples are provided which show that the cyclic sulfamidate moiety not only serves as a chiral directing group but also as a versatile handle for further functionalization of the generated isoindoline ring system.

Novel 2,4-diaminopyrimidines bearing fused tricyclic ring moiety for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor.

In this study, a series of novel 2,4-diaminopyrimidines bearing fused tricyclic ring moiety was described for ALK inhibitor. The pyrazole, imidazole, 1,2,4-triazole, piperazine and phenanthridine moieties were employed at the 2-position of pyrimidine. Among the compounds synthesized, 28, 29, 36, and 42 showed promising anti-ALK activities in enzymatic- and cell-based assays. In vivo H3122 xenograft model study showed that compound 29 effectively suppressed ALK-driven tumor growth, similar to the extent of ceritinib, suggesting that it could be used for a novel ALK inhibitor development.

Replacing the terminal piperidine in ceritinib with aliphatic amines confers activities against crizotinib-resistant mutants including G1202R.

The piperidine fragment in ceritinib was replaced with diverse aliphatic amines to improve inherent resistance issues of ceritinib. While most of the prepared compounds exhibit as similar in vitro activities as ceritinib, compound 10 shows encouraging activities against wild-type ALK as well as crizotinib-resistant mutants including extremely resistant G1202R mutant with an IC50 of 1.8 nM. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic profiles of 10 is apparently better than that of ceritinib. In murine xenograft studies, compound 10 turns out to be as active as ceritinib, suggesting that further optimization of 10 may lead to clinical candidates overcoming ALK mutant issues.

Discovery of novel tetrahydroisoquinoline-containing pyrimidines as ALK inhibitors.

Exploration of the two-position side chain of pyrimidine in LDK378 with tetrahydroisoquinolines (THIQs) led to discovery of 8 and 17 as highly potent ALK inhibitors. THIQs 8 and 17 showed encouraging in vitro and in vivo xenograft efficacies, comparable with those of LDK378. Although THIQ analogs (8a-o and 17a-i) prepared were not as active as their parent compounds, both 8 and 17 have significant inhibitory activities against various ALK mutant enzymes including G1202R, indicating that this series of compounds could be further optimized as useful ALK inhibitors overcoming the resistance issues found from crizotinib and LDK378.

Discovery of substituted 6-pheny-3H-pyridazin-3-one derivatives as novel c-Met kinase inhibitors.

We report a series of phenyl substituted pyridazin-3-ones substituted with morpholino-pyrimidines. The SAR of the phenyl was explored and their c-Met kinase and cell-based inhibitory activity toward c-Met driven cell lines were evaluated. Described herein is a potent c-Met inhibitor by structural modification of the parent morpholino-pyridazinone scaffold, with particular focus on the phenyl and pyrimidine substituents.

Synthesis and anti-influenza virus activity of 4-oxo- or thioxo-4,5-dihydrofuro[3,4-c]pyridin-3(1H)-ones.

A target-free approach was applied to discover anti-influenza viral compounds, where influenza infected Madin-Darby canine kidney cells were treated 7500 different small organic chemicals individually and reduction of virus-induced cytopathic effect was measured. One of the hit compounds was (Z)-1-((5-fluoro-1H-indol-3-yl)methylene)-6-methyl-4-thioxo-4,5-dihydrofuro[3,4-c]pyridin-3(1H)-one (15a) with half-maximal effective concentrations of 17.4-21.1µM against influenza A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses without any cellular toxicity at 900µM. To investigate the structure-activity relationships, two dozens of the hit analogs were synthesized. Among them, 15g, 15j, 15q, 15s, 15t and 15x had anti-influenza viral activity comparable or superior to that of the initial hit. The anti-influenza viral compounds efficiently suppressed not only viral protein level of the infected cells but also production of viral progeny in the culture supernatants in a dose-dependent manner. Based on a mode-of-action study, they did not affect virus entry or RNA replication. Instead, they suppressed viral neuraminidase activity. This study is the first to demonstrate that dihydrofuropyridinones could serve as lead compounds for the discovery of alternative influenza virus inhibitors.

Efficient synthesis of 3H,3'H-spiro[benzofuran-2,1'-isobenzofuran]-3,3'-dione as novel skeletons specifically for influenza virus type B inhibition.

An efficient and novel two step synthetic procedure to prepare various substituted 3H,3'H-spiro[benzofuran-2,1'-isobenzofuran]-3,3'-diones A, was established from very simple and easily available starting materials. The developed method is a robust and general approach for the synthesis of these structures. The prepared compounds were tested against influenza virus type A viz., A/Taiwan/1/86 (H1N1), A/Hong Kong/8/68 (H3N2) and type B viz., B/Panama/45/90, B/Taiwan/2/62, B/Lee/40, B/Brisbane/60/2008. Among 31 compounds tested, some of them showed good activity (selective index values >10) against these influenza viruses preferentially for type B. The most active compound 3b showed activity in 3.0-16.1 µM range with a selectivity index value between 30 and 166 against these type B viruses, in which it was comparable to the antiviral agent favipiravir. Also, 3b is found to be inactive against other enveloped viruses (viz., HIV and HSV) showing its specificity for influenza viruses.