Development of a Manufacturing Process toward the Convergent Synthesis of the COVID-19 Antiviral Ensitrelvir.

We describe the development of the practical manufacturing of Ensitrelvir, which was discovered as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral candidate. Scalable synthetic methods of indazole, 1,2,4-triazole and 1,3,5-triazinone structures were established, and convergent couplings of these fragments enabled the development of a concise and efficient scale-up process to Ensitrelvir. In this process, introducing a meta-cresolyl moiety successfully enhanced the stability of intermediates. Compared to the initial route at the early research and development stage, the overall yield of the longest linear sequence (6 steps) was improved by approximately 7-fold. Furthermore, 9 out of the 12 isolated intermediates were crystallized directly from each reaction mixture without any extractive workup (direct isolation). This led to an efficient and environmentally friendly manufacturing process that minimizes waste of organic solvents, reagents, and processing time. This practical process for manufacturing Ensitrelvir should contribute to protection against COVID-19.

Studies of the Electronic Effects of Zinc Cluster Catalysts and Their Application to the Transesterification of ß-Keto Esters.

The electronic effects of tetranuclear zinc cluster catalysts on transesterification were investigated by changing the carboxylate ligands in the clusters. High catalyst activity crucially depended on the balance between Lewis acidity and Brønsted basicity of the catalyst; this was consistent with the dual activation of both the electrophile and nucleophile by the cooperative zinc centers. In addition, tetranuclear zinc cluster catalysts achieved the transesterification of ß-keto esters with unprecedented levels of broad substrate generality, in which a newly developed pentafluoropropionate-bridged zinc cluster and 4-dimethylaminopyridine additive greatly improved the reactivity of sterically congested α- and α,α-disubstituted ß-keto esters.

Sodium methoxide: a simple but highly efficient catalyst for the direct amidation of esters.

A simple NaOMe catalyst provides superior accessibility to a wide variety of functionalized amides including peptides through direct amination of esters in an atom-economical and environmentally benign way.

A tetranuclear-zinc-cluster-catalyzed practical and versatile deprotection of acetates and benzoates.

A new catalytic deacylation of acetates and benzoates through transesterification with methanol was developed (see scheme). Reactions with various acid- and nucleophile-sensitive functional groups proceeded efficiently in the presence of a catalytic amount of the tetranuclear zinc cluster. The present catalysis is applicable to less-reactive tertiary acetates, the deacylation of which is difficult to achieve by transesterification with other catalysts.