Enantioselective synthesis of (Z)-1,2-anti-2,5-anti-triol monosilyl ethers using a cross-metathesis allylboration sequence.

The enantioselective synthesis of (Z)-1,2-anti-2,5-anti-triol monosilyl ethers via a two-step sequence involving olefin cross-metathesis of ß-alkoxyallylboronate 4 and subsequent allylboration of the derived bisboryl intermediate 6 provides triol monoethers 7 with good to excellent diastereoselectivity.

Total synthesis of (-)-spinosyn A: examination of structural features that govern the stereoselectivity of the key transannular Diels-Alder reaction.

A study of elements of stereochemical control in transannular Diels-Alder reactions leading to the decahydro-as-indacene core of (-)-spinosyn A is described. Initial studies focused on macrocyclic pentaene 9, which includes C(6)-Br and C(8)-OTBS substituents. Excellent selectivity (>95:5) was observed in the cycloaddition of 9 as a consequence of 1,3-allylic strain interactions involving the C(6) and C(8) substituents in the disfavored TS-2. The major cycloadduct 22 was used in a formal synthesis of (-)-spinosyn A. The TDA cyclizations of 12 (which lacks the C(8)-OTBS unit of 9), 13 (which lacks the C(6)-Br substituent of 12), and 14 (which lacks the C(6)-Br and C(21)-Et substituents of 12) were also studied. Macrocycles 12 and 13 served as precursors to (-)-spinosyn A and the (-)-spinosyn A aglycon (34), respectively. It is striking that substrates 12-14 give very similar distributions of transannular Diels-Alder cycloadducts, indicating that the C(6)-Br and C(21)-stereocenter do not play a significant role in the diastereoselectivity of the TDA cycloaddition of spinosyn A precursor 12. It is likely that some as yet unidentified conformational or structural features of macrocycles 12-14 contribute to the levels of diastereoselectivity achieved, since these TDA reactions are more selective for the C(7)-C(9) stereochemical relationship found in the natural product than are the IMDA reactions of trienes 4 and 7.

An aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase that specifically activates pyrrolysine.

Pyrrolysine, the 22nd cotranslationally inserted amino acid, was found in the Methanosarcina barkeri monomethylamine methyltransferase protein in a position that is encoded by an in-frame UAG stop codon in the mRNA. M. barkeri encodes a special amber suppressor tRNA (tRNA(Pyl)) that presumably recognizes this UAG codon. It was reported that Lys-tRNA(Pyl) can be formed by the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-like M. barkeri protein PylS [Srinivasan, G., James, C. M. & Krzycki, J. A. (2002) Science 296, 1459-1462], whereas a later article showed that Lys-tRNA(Pyl) is synthesized by the combined action of LysRS1 and LysRS2, the two different M. barkeri lysyl-tRNA synthetases. Pyrrolysyl-tRNA(Pyl) formation was presumed to result from subsequent modification of lysine attached to tRNA(Pyl). To investigate whether pyrrolysine can be directly attached to tRNA(Pyl) we chemically synthesized pyrrolysine. We show that PylS is a specialized aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase for charging pyrrolysine to tRNA(Pyl); lysine and tRNA(Lys) are not substrates of the enzyme. In view of the properties of PylS we propose to name this enzyme pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase. In contrast, the LysRS1:LysRS2 complex does not recognize pyrrolysine and charges tRNA(Pyl) with lysine. These in vitro data suggest that Methanosarcina cells have two pathways for acylating the suppressor tRNA(Pyl). This would ensure efficient translation of the in-frame UAG codon in case of pyrrolysine deficiency and safeguard the biosynthesis of the proteins whose genes contain this special codon.