Efficient and scalable enantioselective synthesis of a CGRP antagonist.

An enantioselective synthesis of the CGRP antagonist BMS-846372, amenable to large scale preparation, is presented. This new synthesis showcases a chemo- and enantioselective reduction of a cyclohepta[b]pyridine-5,9-dione as well as a Pd-catalyzed alpha-arylation reaction to form the key carbon-carbon bond and set the absolute and relative stereochemistry.

Mild and general method for the alpha-arylation of heteroaromatic ketones.

The development of a general and mild method for Pd-catalyzed alpha-arylation of a variety of ketones bearing multiple heteroatoms is described. The ligand to metal ratio and the position of the heteroatoms with respect to the carbonyl moiety significantly impact the efficiency of these transformations. In addition, these conditions were successfully applied to the alpha-arylation of cyclic imines. A detailed investigation of the scope of this methodology, including the effect of the ligand to metal ratio, is discussed.

Insights into directing group ability in palladium-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization.

This paper describes a detailed investigation of factors controlling the dominance of a directing group in Pd-catalyzed ligand-directed arene acetoxylation. Mechanistic studies, involving reaction kinetics, Hammett analysis, kinetic isotope effect experiments, and the kinetic order in oxidant, have been conducted for a series of different substrates. Initial rates studies of substrates bearing different directing groups showed that these transformations are accelerated by the use of electron-withdrawing directing groups. However, in contrast, under conditions where two directing groups are in competition with one another in the same reaction flask, substrates with electron-donating directing groups react preferentially. These results are discussed in the context of the proposed mechanism for Pd-catalyzed arene acetoxylation.

Oxone as an inexpensive, safe, and environmentally benign oxidant for C-H bond oxygenation.

[reaction: see text] This paper describes the application of peroxide-based oxidants in the Pd(OAc)(2)-catalyzed acetoxylation and etherification of arene and alkane C-H bonds. Oxone in acetic acid and/or methanol proved particularly effective, and these transformations were applied to a wide variety of substrates.

Oxidative C-H activation/C-C bond forming reactions: synthetic scope and mechanistic insights.

This paper describes a new palladium-catalyzed method for C-H activation/carbon-carbon bond formation with hypervalent iodine arylating agents. This transformation has been applied to a variety of arene and benzylic substrates containing different directing groups (pyridines, quinolines, oxazolidinones, and amides) and proceeds with high levels of regiocontrol. Mechanistic experiments provide preliminary evidence in support of an unusual mechanism for this transformation involving a Pd(II)/Pd(IV) catalytic cycle.

Palladium-catalyzed oxygenation of unactivated sp3 C-H bonds.

This communication describes a new palladium-catalyzed method for the oxygenation of unactivated sp3 C-H bonds. A wide variety of alkane substrates containing readily available oxime and/or pyridine directing groups are oxidized with extremely high levels of chemo-, regio-, and in some cases diastereoselectivity. The substrate scope of these reactions is discussed, and the high selectivities are rationalized on the basis of the requirements of putative palladium alkyl intermediates.

Substrate selectivity and conformational space available to bromoxynil and acrylonitrile in iron nitrile hydratase.

Nitrile hydratase (NHase) is used in the commercial conversion of acrylonitrile to acrylamide. There are two main types of NHase: the iron containing and the cobalt containing NHase. They catalyze the conversion of a wide variety of nitriles to their corresponding amides. The Co-NHases are more robust and have wider substrate specificity than the Fe-NHase. We have used dihedral and positional variational Monte Carlo conformational searches to determine the conformational space available to acrylonitrile and bromoxynil bound to the iron in the active site of NHase. Dioxane is an Fe-NHase inhibitor, but has no effect on Co-NHase activity. Our conformational searches showed that although the dioxane restricts the conformational freedom of the iron coordinated acrylonitrile, there is enough room in the active site for both the acrylonitrile and dioxane. A conformational search of dioxane in the active site of Fe-NHase, in the absence of a substrate, revealed that the acrylonitrile and dioxane do not share the same space. We have also shown that if the function of the metal ions in NHases is to activate the nitrile by binding to it and acting as a Lewis acid, then the entrance and channel residues are most likely responsible for Fe-NHase's inability to hydrolize bromoxynil.