Structural analysis identifies an escape route from the adverse lipogenic effects of liver X receptor ligands.

Liver X receptors (LXRs) are attractive drug targets for cardiovascular disease treatment due to their role in regulating cholesterol homeostasis and immunity. The anti-atherogenic properties of LXRs have prompted development of synthetic ligands, but these cause major adverse effects-such as increased lipogenesis-which are challenging to dissect from their beneficial activities. Here we show that LXR compounds displaying diverse functional responses in animal models induce distinct receptor conformations. Combination of hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry and multivariate analysis allowed identification of LXR regions differentially correlating with anti-atherogenic and lipogenic activities of ligands. We show that lipogenic compounds stabilize active states of LXRα and LXRß while the anti-atherogenic expression of the cholesterol transporter ABCA1 is associated with the ligand-induced stabilization of LXRα helix 3. Our data indicates that avoiding ligand interaction with the activation helix 12 while engaging helix 3 may provide directions for development of ligands with improved therapeutic profiles.

Mechanism and regioselectivity of the anionic oxidative rearrangement of 1,3-diketones towards all-carbon quaternary carboxylates.

The oxidative rearrangement of 1,3-diketones is an underexplored alternative to enolate chemistry in the synthesis of all-carbon quaternary carboxylates. The mechanistic investigation of this reaction has resulted in a mild base mediated protocol, whose regioselectivity has been studied in challenging acyclic substrates.

A general Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of heteroaromatics catalyzed by nanopalladium on amino-functionalized siliceous mesocellular foam.

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of heteroaromatics catalyzed by palladium supported in the cavities of amino-functionalized siliceous mesocellular foam are presented. The nanopalladium catalyst effectively couples not only heteroaryl halides with boronic acids but also heteroaryl halides with boronate esters, potassium trifluoroborates, MIDA boronates, and triolborates, producing a wide range of heterobiaryls in good to excellent yields. Furthermore, the heterogeneous palladium nanocatalyst can easily be removed from the reaction mixture by filtration and recycled several times with minimal loss in activity. This catalyst provides an alternative, environmentally friendly, low-leaching process for the preparation of heterobiaryls.

Synthesis and functionalization of cyclic sulfonimidamides: a novel chiral heterocyclic carboxylic Acid bioisostere.

An efficient synthesis of aryl substituted cyclic sulfonimidamides designed as chiral nonplanar heterocyclic carboxylic acid bioisosteres is described. The cyclic sulfonimidamide ring system could be prepared in two steps from a trifluoroacetyl protected sulfinamide and methyl ester protected amino acids. By varying the amino acid, a range of different C-3 substituted sulfonimidamides could be prepared. The compounds could be further derivatized in the aryl ring using standard cross-coupling reactions to yield highly substituted cyclic sulfonimidamides in excellent yields. The physicochemical properties of the final compounds were examined and compared to those of the corresponding carboxylic acid and tetrazole derivatives. The unique nonplanar shape in combination with the relatively strong acidity (pK a 5-6) and the ease of modifying the chemical structure to fine-tune the physicochemical properties suggest that this heterocycle can be a valuable addition to the range of available carboxylic acid isosteres.