The Photochemical Mediated Ring Contraction of 4H-1,2,6-Thiadiazines To Afford 1,2,5-Thiadiazol-3(2H)-one 1-Oxides.

1,2,6-Thiadiazines treated with visible light and 3O2 under ambient conditions are converted into difficult-to-access 1,2,5-thiadiazole 1-oxides (35 examples, yields of 39-100%). Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that 1,2,6-thiadiazines act as triplet photosensitizers that produce 1O2 and then undergo a chemoselective [3 + 2] cycloaddition to give an endoperoxide that ring contracts with selective carbon atom excision and complete atom economy. The reaction was optimized under both batch and continuous-flow conditions and is also efficient in green solvents.

The Synthesis and Biological Applications of the 1,2,3-Dithiazole Scaffold.

The 1,2,3-dithiazole is an underappreciated scaffold in medicinal chemistry despite possessing a wide variety of nascent pharmacological activities. The scaffold has a potential wealth of opportunities within these activities and further afield. The 1,2,3-dithiazole scaffold has already been reported as an antifungal, herbicide, antibacterial, anticancer agent, antiviral, antifibrotic, and is a melanin and Arabidopsis gibberellin 2-oxidase inhibitor. These structure activity relationships are discussed in detail, along with insights and future directions. The review also highlights selected synthetic strategies developed towards the 1,2,3-dithiazole scaffold, how these are integrated to accessibility of chemical space, and to the prism of current and future biological activities.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel 1,2,6-Thiadiazinone Kinase Inhibitors as Potent Inhibitors of Solid Tumors.

A focused series of substituted 4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-ones was designed and synthesized to probe the anti-cancer properties of this scaffold. Insights from previous kinase inhibitor programs were used to carefully select several different substitution patterns. Compounds were tested on bladder, prostate, pancreatic, breast, chordoma, and lung cancer cell lines with an additional skin fibroblast cell line as a toxicity control. This resulted in the identification of several low single digit micro molar compounds with promising therapeutic windows, particularly for bladder and prostate cancer. A number of key structural features of the 4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-one scaffold are discussed that show promising scope for future improvement.

Synthesis and Chemistry of Benzo[e][1,2,6]thiadiazino[3,4-b][1,4]diazepin-10(11H)-ones and Related Ring Transformations.

2-[(3,5-Dichloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-ylidene)amino]benzamides are cyclized to benzo[e][1,2,6]thiadiazino[3,4-b][1,4]diazepin-10(11H)-ones via (i) treatment with NaH and via (ii) Pd-catalyzed C-N coupling. The behavior of the latter toward nucleophiles and thermal, oxidative, and reductive conditions revealed unexpected transformations to 3,5-dioxo-4,5-dihydro-3H-benzo[e][1,4]diazepine-2-carbonitrile and 2-(4-substituted-1,2,5-thiadiazol-3-yl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones.

Atomistic hybrid particle-field molecular dynamics combined with slip-springs: Restoring entangled dynamics to simulations of polymer melts.

In hybrid particle-field (hPF) simulations (J. Chem. Phys., 2009 130, 214106), the entangled dynamics of polymer melts is lost due to chain crossability. Chains cross, because the field-treatment of the nonbonded interactions makes them effectively soft-core. We introduce a multi-chain slip-spring model (J. Chem. Phys., 2013 138, 104907) into the hPF scheme to mimic the topological constraints of entanglements. The structure of the polymer chains is consistent with that of regular molecular dynamics simulations and is not affected by the introduction of slip-springs. Although slight deviations are seen at short times, dynamical properties such as mean-square displacements and reorientational relaxation times are in good agreement with traditional molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical predictions at long times.

Molecular structure and multi-body potential of mean force in silica-polystyrene nanocomposites.

We perform a systematic application of the hybrid particle-field molecular dynamics technique [Milano, et al., J. Chem. Phys., 2009, 130, 214106] to study interfacial properties and potential of mean force (PMF) for separating nanoparticles (NPs) in a melt. Specifically, we consider Silica NPs bare or grafted with Polystyrene chains, aiming to shed light on the interactions among free and grafted chains affecting the dispersion of NPs in the nanocomposite. The proposed hybrid models show good performances in catching the local structure of the chains, and in particular their density profiles, documenting the existence of the "wet-brush-to-dry-brush" transition. By using these models, the PMF between pairs of ungrafted and grafted NPs in Polystyrene matrix are calculated. Moreover, we estimate the three-particle contribution to the total PMF and its role in regulating the phase separation on the nanometer scale. In particular, the multi-particle contribution to the PMF is able to give an explanation of the complex experimental morphologies observed at low grafting densities. More in general, we propose this approach and the models utilized here for a molecular understanding of specific systems and the impact of the chemical nature of the systems on the composite final properties.

1,2,6-Thiadiazinones as Novel Narrow Spectrum Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Kinase 2 (CaMKK2) Inhibitors.

We demonstrate for the first time that 4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-one (TDZ) can function as a chemotype for the design of ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors. Using insights from a co-crystal structure of a 3,5-bis(arylamino)-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-one bound to calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2), several analogues were identified with micromolar activity through targeted displacement of bound water molecules in the active site. Since the TDZ analogues showed reduced promiscuity compared to their 2,4-dianilinopyrimidine counter parts, they represent starting points for development of highly selective kinase inhibitors.

The Conversion of 5,5'-Bi(1,2,3-dithiazolylidenes) into Isothiazolo[5,4-d]isothiazoles.

Thermolysis of 4,4'-dichloro-, 4,4'-diaryl-, and 4,4'-di(thien-2-yl)-5,5'-bi(1,2,3-dithiazol-ylidenes) affords the respective 3,6-dichloro-, 3,6-diaryl- and 3,6-di(thien-2-yl)isothiazolo[5,4-d]-isothiazoles in low to high yields. The transformation of the 4,4'-diaryl- and 4,4'-di(thien-2-yl)-5,5'-bi(1,2,3-dithiazolylidenes) occurs at lower temperatures in the presence of the thiophiles triphenylphosphine or tetraethylammonium iodide. Optimized reaction conditions and a mechanistic rationale for the thiophile-mediated ring transformation are presented.

Complexation of Polyelectrolyte Micelles with Oppositely Charged Linear Chains.

The formation of interpolyelectrolyte complexes (IPECs) from linear AB diblock copolymer precursor micelles and oppositely charged linear homopolymers is studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. All beads of the linear polyelectrolyte (C) are charged with elementary quenched charge +1e, whereas in the diblock copolymer only the solvophilic (A) type beads have quenched charge -1e. For the same Bjerrum length, the ratio of positive to negative charges, Z+/-, of the mixture and the relative length of charged moieties r determine the size of IPECs. We found a nonmonotonic variation of the size of the IPECs with Z+/-. For small Z+/- values, the IPECs retain the size of the precursor micelle, whereas at larger Z+/- values the IPECs decrease in size due to the contraction of the corona and then increase as the aggregation number of the micelle increases. The minimum size of the IPECs is obtained at lower Z+/- values when the length of the hydrophilic block of the linear diblock copolymer decreases. The aforementioned findings are in agreement with experimental results. At a smaller Bjerrum length, we obtain the same trends but at even smaller Z+/- values. The linear homopolymer charged units are distributed throughout the corona.

Evaluation of PVP/Au Nanocomposite Fibers as Heterogeneous Catalysts in Indole Synthesis.

Electrospun nanocomposite fibers consisting of crosslinked polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) chains and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were fabricated, starting from highly stable PVP/Au NP colloidal solutions with different NP loadings, followed by thermal treatment. Information on the morphological characteristics of the fibers and of the embedded Au NPs was obtained by electron microscopy. Cylindrical, bead-free fibers were visualized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) while Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy Diffraction X-ray (EDX) analysis supported the presence of Au NPs within the fibers and gave information on their morphologies and average diameters. These materials were briefly evaluated as heterogeneous catalytic supports for the gold-catalyzed intramolecular cyclisation of 2­(phenylethynyl)aniline to form 2-phenyl-1H-indole. The performance of the gold catalyst was strongly dependent on the Au NP size, with the system containing the smallest Au NPs being the more effective. Moreover, a slight drop of their catalytic efficiency was observed after three consecutive reaction runs, which was attributed to morphological changes as a consequence of fiber merging.

The Acid and/or Thermal Mediated Ring Contraction of 4H-1,2,6-Thiadiazines To Afford 1,2,5-Thiadiazoles.

A near-quantitative acid and/or thermal mediated ring contraction of 3',5'-diarylspiro(benzo[d][1,3]dioxole-2,4'-[1,2,6]thiadiazines) affords 3-aryl-4-(2-arylbenzo[d][1,3]dioxol-2-yl)-1,2,5-thiadiazoles. The reaction scope was studied providing 11 examples of this ring contraction. A double Wagner-Meerwein reaction mechanism is proposed.

Entropic effects, shape, and size of mixed micelles formed by copolymers with complex architectures.

The entropic effects in the comicellization behavior of amphiphilic AB copolymers differing in the chain size of solvophilic A parts were studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, mixtures of miktoarm star copolymers differing in the molecular weight of solvophilic arms were investigated. We found that the critical micelle concentration values show a positive deviation from the analytical predictions of the molecular theory of comicellization for chemically identical copolymers. This can be attributed to the effective interactions between copolymers originated from the arm size asymmetry. The effective interactions induce a very small decrease in the aggregation number of preferential micelles triggering the nonrandom mixing between the solvophilic moieties in the corona. Additionally, in order to specify how the chain architecture affects the size distribution and the shape of mixed micelles we studied star-shaped, H-shaped, and homo-linked-rings-linear mixtures. In the first case the individual constituents form micelles with preferential and wide aggregation numbers and in the latter case the individual constituents form wormlike and spherical micelles.

A Qualitative Comparison of the Reactivities of 3,4,4,5-Tetrachloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazine and 4,5-Dichloro-1,2,3-dithiazolium Chloride.

The high yielding transformations of 3,4,4,5-tetrachloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazine into 3,5-dichloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-one (up to 85%) and 2-(3,5-dichloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-ylidene)malononitrile (up to 83%) have been investigated and compared to the analogous transformations of the closely-related 4,5-dichloro-1,2,3-dithiazolium chloride (Appel's salt) into 4-chloro-5H-1,2,3-dithiazol-5-one and 2-(4-chloro-5H-1,2,3-dithiazol-5-ylidene)malononitrile. Furthermore, cyclocondensation of 3,4,4,5-tetrachloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazine with 2-aminophenol and 1,2-benzenediamines gave fused 4H-1,2,6-thiadiazines in 68%-85% yields.

Synthesis of N-Aryl-3,5-dichloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-imines from 3,4,4,5-Tetrachloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazine.

Condensation of 3,4,4,5-tetrachloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazine with a range of anilines gave 22 N-aryl-3,5-dichloro-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-imines in 43-96% yields. The scope and limitations of this condensation are briefly investigated. Furthermore, mono- and bis-substitution of the C-3 and C-5 chlorines of 3,5-dichloro-N-phenyl-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-imine by amine and alkoxide nucleophiles is explored. Finally, Stille coupling chemistry is used to prepare several N-phenyl-3,5-diaryl-4H-1,2,6-thiadiazin-4-imines.

Synthesis of the reported structure of piperazirum using a nitro-Mannich reaction as the key stereochemical determining step.

Piperazirum, isolated from Arum palaestinum Boiss, was originally assigned as r-3,c-5-diisobutyl-c-6-isopropylpiperazin-2-one. The reported structure was synthesised diastereoselectively using a key nitro-Mannich reaction to set up the C5/C6 relative stereochemistry. The structure was unambiguously assigned by single crystal X-ray diffraction but the spectroscopic data did not match those reported for the natural product. The structure of the natural product must therefore be revised.

Dendritic brushes under theta and poor solvent conditions.

The effects of solvent quality on the internal stratification of polymer brushes formed by dendron polymers up to third generation were studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations with Langevin thermostat. The distributions of polymer units, of the free ends, the radii of gyration, and the back folding probabilities of the dendritic spacers were studied at the macroscopic states of theta and poor solvent. For high grafting densities we observed a small decrease in the height of the brush as the solvent quality decreases. The internal stratification in theta solvent was similar to the one we found in good solvent, with two and in some cases three kinds of populations containing short dendrons with weakly extended spacers, intermediate-height dendrons, and tall dendrons with highly stretched spacers. The differences increase as the grafting density decreases and single dendron populations were evident in theta and poor solvent. In poor solvent at low grafting densities, solvent micelles, polymeric pinned lamellae, spherical and single chain collapsed micelles were observed. The scaling dependence of the height of the dendritic brush at high density brushes for both solvents was found to be in agreement with existing analytical results.

Dendritic brushes under good solvent conditions: a simulation study.

The structural properties of polymer brushes, formed by dendron polymers up to the third generation, were studied by means of Brownian dynamics simulations for the macroscopic state of good solvent. The distributions of polymer units, of the free ends, of the dendrons centers of mass, and of the units of every dendritic generation and the radii of gyration necessary for the understanding of the internal stratification of brushes were calculated. Previous self-consistent field theory numerical simulations of first-generation dendritic brushes suggested that at high grafting densities two kinds of populations are evident, one of short dendrons having weakly extended spacers and another with tall dendrons having strongly stretched spacers. These Brownian dynamics calculations provided a more complicated picture of dendritic brushes, revealing different populations of short, tall, and in some cases intermediate height dendrons, depending on the dendron generation and spacer length. The scaling dependence of the height and the span of the dendritic brush on the grafting density and other parameters were found to be in good agreement with existing theoretical results for good solvents.

Stereoselective synthesis of densely functionalized pyrrolidin-2-ones by a conjugate addition/nitro-Mannich/lactamization reaction.

Copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diorgano zinc reagents to nitroacrylate 1 followed by a subsequent nitro-Mannich reaction and in situ lactamization leads to an efficient one-pot synthesis of 1,3,5-trisubstituted 4-nitropyrrolidin-2-ones (5). The versatility of the reaction is shown for a wide range of N-p-(methoxy)phenyl protected aldimines 3 derived from alkyl, aryl, and heteroaryl aldehydes. The densely functionalized pyrrolidin-2-ones 5 are isolated as single diastereoisomers (40 examples, 33-84% yield). An enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diethylzinc led to highly crystalline products that could be recrystallized to enantiopurity in high yield. A range of successful chemoselective transformations were investigated, which widens the applicability of the pyrrolidn-2-ones as stereochemically pure building blocks for further organic synthesis.

The reaction of 4,5-dichloro-1,2,3-dithiazolium chloride with sulfimides: a new synthesis of N-aryl-1,2,3-dithiazolimines.

N-Aryl-S,S-dimethylsulfimides 3(Ar = 4-NO(2)C(6)H(4)), 4 (Ar = Ph) and 5 (Ar = 4-Tol)react with Appel salt 1 to give the corresponding N-aryl-(4-chloro-5H-1,2,3-dithiazolylidene)benzenamines 8 (Ar = 4-NO(2)C(6)H(4)), 9 (Ar = Ph) and 10 (Ar = 4-Tol) in 84, 94 and 87% yields, respectively. The reaction proceeds in the absence of base and a proposed reaction mechanism is given.