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1.
Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol ; 80(Pt 4): 289-298, 2024 Apr 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38512071

ABSTRACT

Lanthanide ions have ideal chemical properties for catalysis, such as hard Lewis acidity, fast ligand-exchange kinetics, high coordination-number preferences and low geometric requirements for coordination. As a result, many small-molecule lanthanide catalysts have been described in the literature. Yet, despite the ability of enzymes to catalyse highly stereoselective reactions under gentle conditions, very few lanthanoenzymes have been investigated. In this work, the mononuclear binding of europium(III) and gadolinium(III) to the active site of a mutant of the model enzyme phosphotriesterase are described using X-ray crystallography at 1.78 and 1.61 Šresolution, respectively. It is also shown that despite coordinating a single non-natural metal cation, the PTE-R18 mutant is still able to maintain esterase activity.


Subject(s)
Lanthanoid Series Elements , Metalloproteins , Phosphoric Triester Hydrolases , Phosphoric Triester Hydrolases/chemistry , Phosphoric Triester Hydrolases/metabolism , Catalytic Domain , Gadolinium , Europium , Cations
2.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl ; 62(29): e202303869, 2023 Jul 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37188643

ABSTRACT

Dual nucleophilic phosphine photoredox catalysis is yet to be developed due to facile oxidation of the phosphine organocatalyst to the phosphoranyl radical cation. Herein, we report a reaction design that avoids this event and exploits traditional nucleophilic phosphine organocatalysis with photoredox catalysis to allow the Giese coupling with ynoates. The approach has good generality, while its mechanism is supported by cyclic voltametric, Stern-Volmer quenching, and interception studies.

3.
Acc Chem Res ; 56(10): 1190-1203, 2023 May 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37093247

ABSTRACT

ConspectusConjugate acceptors are one of the most common electrophilic functional groups in organic synthesis. While useful in a diverse range of transformations, their applications are largely dominated by the reactions from which their name is derived (i.e., as an acceptor of nucleophiles in the conjugate position). In 2014, we commenced studies focused on their ability to undergo polarity inversion through the conjugate addition of Lewis base catalysts. The first step in this process provides an enolate, from which the well-developed Rauhut-Currier (RC) and Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reactions can occur; however, tautomerization to provide a species in which the ß-carbon of the conjugate acceptor can now act as a donor is also possible. When we commenced studies on this topic, reaction designs with this type of species, particularly when accessed using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), had been reported on only a handful of occasions. Despite a lack of development, conceptually it was felt that reactions taking advantage of polarity switching by Lewis base conjugate addition have a number of desirable features. Perhaps the most significant is the potential to reimagine a ubiquitous functional group as an entirely new synthon, namely, a donor to electrophiles from the conjugate position.Our work has focused on catalysis with both simple conjugate acceptors and also those embedded within more complicated substrates; the latter has allowed a series of cycloisomerizations and annulation reactions to be achieved. In most cases, the reactions have been possible using enantioenriched chiral NHCs or organophosphines as the Lewis base catalysts thereby delivering enantioselective approaches to novel cyclic molecules. While related chemistry can be accessed with either family of catalyst, in all cases reactions have been designed to take advantage of one or the other. In addition, a fine balance exists between reactions that exploit the initially formed enolate and those that involve the polarity-inverted ß-anion. In our studies, this balance is addressed through substrate design, although catalyst control may also be possible. We consider the chemistry discussed in this Account to be in its infancy. Significant challenges remain to be addressed before our broad aim of discovering a universal approach to the polarity inversion of all conjugate acceptors can be achieved. These challenges broadly relate to chemoselectivity with substrates bearing multiple electrophilic functionalities, reliance upon the use of conjugate acceptors, and catalyst efficiency. To address these challenges, advances in catalyst design and catalyst cooperativity are likely required.

4.
Science ; 379(6631): 439-440, 2023 Feb 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36730389

ABSTRACT

Stable carbenes deliver a carbon atom to simple amides, producing a range of cyclic compounds.

5.
Biochemistry ; 62(3): 873-891, 2023 02 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36637210

ABSTRACT

The stereoselective reduction of alkenes conjugated to electron-withdrawing groups by ene-reductases has been extensively applied to the commercial preparation of fine chemicals. Although several different enzyme families are known to possess ene-reductase activity, the old yellow enzyme (OYE) family has been the most thoroughly investigated. Recently, it was shown that a subset of ene-reductases belonging to the flavin/deazaflavin oxidoreductase (FDOR) superfamily exhibit enantioselectivity that is generally complementary to that seen in the OYE family. These enzymes belong to one of several FDOR subgroups that use the unusual deazaflavin cofactor F420. Here, we explore several enzymes of the FDOR-A subgroup, characterizing their substrate range and enantioselectivity with 20 different compounds, identifying enzymes (MSMEG_2027 and MSMEG_2850) that could reduce a wide range of compounds stereoselectively. For example, MSMEG_2027 catalyzed the complete conversion of both isomers of citral to (R)-citronellal with 99% ee, while MSMEG_2850 catalyzed complete conversion of ketoisophorone to (S)-levodione with 99% ee. Protein crystallography combined with computational docking has allowed the observed stereoselectivity to be mechanistically rationalized for two enzymes. These findings add further support for the FDOR and OYE families of ene-reductases displaying general stereocomplementarity to each other and highlight their potential value in asymmetric ene-reduction.


Subject(s)
Mycobacterium smegmatis , Oxidoreductases , Oxidoreductases/metabolism , Mycobacterium smegmatis/metabolism , Oxidation-Reduction , NADPH Dehydrogenase/chemistry , NADPH Dehydrogenase/metabolism
6.
Chembiochem ; 24(8): e202200797, 2023 04 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36716144

ABSTRACT

Asymmetric reduction by ene-reductases has received considerable attention in recent decades. While several enzyme families possess ene-reductase activity, the Old Yellow Enzyme (OYE) family has received the most scientific and industrial attention. However, there is a limited substrate range and few stereocomplementary pairs of current ene-reductases, necessitating the development of a complementary class. Flavin/deazaflavin oxidoreductases (FDORs) that use the uncommon cofactor F420 have recently gained attention as ene-reductases for use in biocatalysis due to their stereocomplementarity with OYEs. Although the enzymes of the FDOR-As sub-group have been characterized in this context and reported to catalyse ene-reductions enantioselectively, enzymes from the similarly large, but more diverse, FDOR-B sub-group have not been investigated in this context. In this study, we investigated the activity of eight FDOR-B enzymes distributed across this sub-group, evaluating their specific activity, kinetic properties, and stereoselectivity against α,ß-unsaturated compounds. The stereochemical outcomes of the FDOR-Bs are compared with enzymes of the FDOR-A sub-group and OYE family. Computational modelling and induced-fit docking are used to rationalize the observed catalytic behaviour and proposed a catalytic mechanism.


Subject(s)
Mycobacterium smegmatis , Oxidoreductases , Oxidoreductases/metabolism , Riboflavin/metabolism , NADPH Dehydrogenase/chemistry , Biocatalysis , Oxidation-Reduction
7.
Chemistry ; 29(11): e202202491, 2023 Feb 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36451579

ABSTRACT

A highly effective 2-step system for site-specific antibody modification and conjugation of the monoclonal antibody Herceptin (commercially available under Trastuzumab) in a cysteine-independent manner was used to generate labelled antibodies for in vivo imaging. The first step contains redox-activated chemical tagging (ReACT) of thioethers via engineered methionine residues to introduce specific alkyne moieties, thereby offering a novel easy way to fundamentally change the process of antibody bioconjugation. The second step involves modification of the introduced alkyne via azide-alkyne cycloaddition 'click' conjugation. The versatility of this 2-step approach is demonstrated here by the selective incorporation of a fluorescent dye but can also be applied to a wide variety of different conjugation partners depending on the desired application in a facile manner. Methionine-modified antibodies were characterised in vitro, and the diagnostic potential of the most promising variant was further analysed in an in vivo xenograft animal model using a fluorescence imaging modality. This study demonstrates how methionine-mediated antibody conjugation offers an orthogonal and versatile route to the generation of tailored antibody conjugates with in vivo applicability.


Subject(s)
Methionine , Neoplasms , Animals , Humans , Trastuzumab , Antibodies, Monoclonal/chemistry , Racemethionine , Alkynes/chemistry , Azides/chemistry
8.
Bioorg Med Chem Lett ; 80: 129086, 2023 01 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36423825

ABSTRACT

The looming threat of a "post-antibiotic era" has been caused by a rapid rise in antibacterial resistance and subsequent depletion of effective antibiotic agents in the clinic. An efficient strategy to address this shortfall lies in the reengineering of pre-existing and commercially available antibiotic drugs. This is exemplified by dimerization, a design concept in which two pharmacophores are covalently linked to form a new chemical entity. The cage hydrocarbons cubane (1), bicyclo[2.2.2]octane (BCO) (2), adamantane (3), and bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) (4) present themselves as an attractive family of linkers in this regard. In this report, all four hydrocarbon cages were employed as linkers in a series of dimers based on the commercially available antibiotics trimethoprim and tedizolid. A detailed synthetic roadmap for the protection and deprotection of each pharmacophore is outlined. Several members of the trimethoprim series showed activity on par with that of their trimethoprim progenitor, although this was not the case for the tedizolid series. The design strategy outlined herein highlights the utility of the group as a platform for the rapid and modular construction of future novel antibiotics.


Subject(s)
Oxazolidinones , Trimethoprim , Trimethoprim/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Hydrocarbons
9.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl ; 61(33): e202206647, 2022 Aug 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35718884

ABSTRACT

While the addition of C1-Lewis base enolates to carbonyls and related structures are well established, the related addition to thiocarbonyls compounds are unknown. Herein, we report a reaction cascade in which a C1-pyridinium enolate undergos addition to dithioesters, trithiocarbonates and xanthates. The reaction provides access to a range of dihydrothiophenes and dihydrothiopyrans (28-examples). Mechanistic investigations, including isolation of intermediates, electronic correlation, and kinetic isotope effect studies support the viability of an activated acid intermediate giving rise to the C1-pyridinium enolate which undergoes turnover limiting cyclization. Subsequent formation of a ß-thiolactone regenerates the catalyst with loss of carbon oxysulfide providing the observed products.

10.
Org Lett ; 24(15): 2847-2852, 2022 04 22.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35404624

ABSTRACT

Herein, we report an enantioselective catalytic annulation of electron-poor allenes with aminocrotonates. The reaction proceeds by the umpolung γ-amination of the allenoate and ß-umpolung intramolecular conjugate addition. The reaction provides ready access to pyrrolidines using a homochiral phosphepine catalyst, which allows most products to form in good yields (55-85%) with ≥95:5 er and ≥4:1 dr. An assisted tandem-catalytic variant is also viable, and mechanistic studies supporting the proposed reaction pathway are reported.


Subject(s)
Phosphines , Pyrrolidines , Catalysis , Stereoisomerism
11.
Org Lett ; 23(24): 9413-9418, 2021 Dec 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34842439

ABSTRACT

ß-Substituted acrylamides have low electrophilicity and are yet to be exploited in the enantioselective Rauhut-Currier reaction. By exploiting electron-withdrawing protection of the amide and moderate nucleophilicity N-heterocyclic carbenes, such substrates have been converted to enantioenriched quinolones. The reaction proceeds with complete diastereoselectivity, good yield, and modest enantioselectivity. Derivatizations are reported, as are computational studies, supporting decreased amide bond character with electron-withdrawing protection of the nitrogen.

12.
Chemistry ; 27(65): 16232-16236, 2021 Nov 22.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34596926

ABSTRACT

A phosphine-catalyzed approach to pyrrolines has been developed that involves two mechanistically unlinked catalytic processes. The first involves the redox isomerization of amino crotonates to provide access to aliphatic tosyl imines, which then engage in a (3+2) annulation with various allenoates. The reaction shows generality, with 24 examples established, along with a low yielding and moderately enantioselective variant. Mechanistic studies indicate that the viability of the process is linked to the selection of catalysts with similar propensity to add to the two coupling partners.


Subject(s)
Phosphines , Catalysis , Isomerism , Oxidation-Reduction
13.
ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci ; 3(3): 425-432, 2020 Jun 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32566908

ABSTRACT

Linezolid and tedizolid are oxazolidinones with established clinical utility for the treatment of Gram-positive pathogens. Over time it has become apparent that even modest structural changes to the core phenyl oxazolidinone leads to drastic changes in biological activity. Consequently, the structure-activity relationship around the core oxazolidinone is constantly evolving, often reflected with new structural motifs present in nascent oxazolidinones. Herein we describe the use of cryo-electron microscopy to examine the differences in binding of several functionally different oxazolidinones in the hopes of enhanced understanding of their SAR. Tedizolid, radezolid, T145, and contezolid have been examined within the peptidyl transferase center (PTC) of the 50S ribosomal subunit from methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The ribosome-antibiotic complexes were resolved to a resolution of around 3 Å enabling unambiguous assignment of how each antibiotic interacts with the PTC.

14.
Chemistry ; 26(50): 11558-11564, 2020 Sep 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32196777

ABSTRACT

The significance of site selective functionalization stands upon the superior selectivity, easy synthesis and diverse product utility. In this work, we demonstrate the para-selective introduction of versatile nitrile moiety, enabled by a detachable and reusable H-bonded auxiliary. The methodology holds its efficiency irrespective of substrate electronic bias. The conspicuous shift in the step energetics was probed by both experimental and computational mechanistic tools, which heralds the inception of para-deuteration. The synthetic impact of the methodology was highlighted with reusability of directing group and post synthetic modifications.

15.
Org Lett ; 22(1): 335-339, 2020 Jan 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31868371

ABSTRACT

The use of silyl nitronates is reported for the isothiourea-catalyzed synthesis of γ-nitro-substituted silyl esters containing up to two contiguous stereocenters in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 93% yield and 99:1 er). The serendipitously discovered formation of silyl ester products in this reaction demonstrates a novel platform for catalyst turnover in α,ß-unsaturated acyl ammonium catalysis.

16.
Chem Sci ; 10(31): 7426-7432, 2019 Aug 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31489165

ABSTRACT

Rhodium catalysis has been extensively used for ortho-C-H functionalization reactions, and successfully extended to meta-C-H functionalization. Its application to para-C-H activation remains an unmet challenge. Herein we disclose the first example of such a reaction, with the Rh-catalyzed para-C-H olefination of arenes. The use of a Si-linked cyanobiphenyl unit as a traceless directing group leads to highly para-selective arene-olefin couplings.

17.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl ; 58(38): 13370-13374, 2019 Sep 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31328857

ABSTRACT

While the enantioselective Rauhut-Currier reaction is established with bis(enone) substrates, it is yet to be reported with less electrophilic bis(enoate) substrates. By exploiting high-nucleophilicity N-heterocyclic carbenes, it is possible to achieve Rauhut-Currier reactions with these substrates. The reaction is demonstrated with a range of intramolecular reactions (20 examples) and six esterification/RC reaction cascades, which all proceed with high enantioselectivity (most >93:7 er).

18.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl ; 58(33): 11483-11490, 2019 Aug 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31197900

ABSTRACT

Direct polarity inversion of conjugate acceptors provides a valuable entry to homoenolates. N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyzed reactions, in which ß-unsubstituted conjugate acceptors undergo homoenolate formation and C-C bond formation twice, have been developed. Specifically, the all-carbon (5+1) annulations give a range of mono- and bicyclic cyclohexanones (31 examples). In the first family of annulations, ß-unsubstituted acrylates tethered to a divinyl ketone undergo cycloisomerization, providing hexahydroindenes and tetralins. In the second, partially untethered substrates undergo an intermolecular (5+1) annulation involving dimerization followed by cycloisomerization. While enantioselectivity was not possible with the former, the latter proved viable, allowing cyclohexanones to be produced with high levels of enantiopurity (most >95:5 e.r.) and exclusive diastereoselectivity (>20:1 d.r.). Derivatizations and mechanistic studies are also reported.

19.
Org Lett ; 21(4): 1212-1215, 2019 02 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30726088

ABSTRACT

Enantioselective syntheses of (-)-Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol ((-)-Δ8-THC) and (-)-Δ9-THC have been achieved in eight and 10 steps, respectively, from a known cinnamic acid. The syntheses take advantage of an enantioselective N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed (4 + 2) annulation between donor-acceptor cyclobutanes and cinnamoyl fluorides to construct the highly enantioenriched cycloxyl ß-lactone shown. Having constructed this A-ring precursor, elaboration to (-)-Δ8-THC is achieved through ß-lactone alcoholysis followed by oxidation, dual decarboxylation, trimethylation, and cationic cyclization. Finally, the conversion to (-)-Δ9-THC is achieved with established chemistry.

20.
ChemMedChem ; 14(5): 527-531, 2019 03 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30667174

ABSTRACT

While the ribosome is a common target for antibiotics, challenges with crystallography can impede the development of new bioactives using structure-based drug design approaches. In this study we exploit common structural features present in linezolid-resistant forms of both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) to redesign the antibiotic. Enabled by rapid and facile cryoEM structures, this process has identified (S)-2,2-dichloro-N-((3-(3-fluoro-4-morpholinophenyl)-2-oxooxazolidin-5-yl)methyl)acetamide (LZD-5) and (S)-2-chloro-N-((3-(3-fluoro-4-morpholinophenyl)-2-oxooxazolidin-5-yl)methyl) acetamide (LZD-6), which inhibit the ribosomal function and growth of linezolid-resistant MRSA and VRE. The strategy discussed highlights the potential for cryoEM to facilitate the development of novel bioactive materials.


Subject(s)
Acetamides/chemical synthesis , Acetamides/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemical synthesis , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Binding Sites , Crystallography, X-Ray , Drug Design , Linezolid/pharmacology , Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus/drug effects , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Models, Molecular , Molecular Structure , Ribosomes/metabolism , Staphylococcal Infections/drug therapy , Structure-Activity Relationship , Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci/drug effects
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