Enantioselective nucleophilic catalysis: the synthesis of aza-beta-lactams through [2+2] cycloadditions of ketenes with azo compounds

Enantioselective Formal 1,2-Diamination of Ketenes with Iminosulfinamides: Asymmetric Synthesis of Unnatural α,α-Disubstituted α-Amino Acid Derivatives

A method was developed for the enantioselective formal 1,2-diamination of disubstituted ketenes using iminosulfinamides as nitrogen sources. The protocol involves the addition of lithium iminosulfinamides to ketenes to form N-iminosulfinyl amide metalloenolates. These metalloenolates then undergo a [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement to yield unnatural α,α-disubstituted α-amino acid derivatives with high enantiopurity. The chirality present at the sulfur atom in the iminosulfinamides is effectively transferred to α carbon of the resulting products, facilitating the highly enantioselective amination of ketenes.

Enantioselective α-heterofunctionalization reactions of catalytically generated C1-Lewis base enolates

Chiral Lewis base (LB) organocatalysis has emerged as a powerful covalent catalysis concept which allows for highly selective asymmetric C-C and C-heteroatom bond formations. Considering significant recent progress in the development of strategies to access α-heterofunctionalized carboxylic acid derivatives under chiral LB catalysis, we wish to summarize the most significant concepts and advances in this field within this mini review now.

An electroaffinity labelling platform for chemoproteomic-based target identification

Target identification involves deconvoluting the protein target of a pharmacologically active, small-molecule ligand, a process that is critical for early drug discovery yet technically challenging. Photoaffinity labelling strategies have become the benchmark for small-molecule target deconvolution, but covalent protein capture requires the use of high-energy ultraviolet light, which can complicate downstream target identification. Thus, there is a strong demand for alternative technologies that allow for controlled activation of chemical probes to covalently label their protein target. Here we introduce an electroaffinity labelling platform that leverages the use of a small, redox-active diazetidinone functional group to enable chemoproteomic-based target identification of pharmacophores within live cell environments. The underlying discovery to enable this platform is that the diazetidinone can be electrochemically oxidized to reveal a reactive intermediate useful for covalent modification of proteins. This work demonstrates the electrochemical platform to be a functional tool for drug-target identification.

Synthesis of Nβ-Substituted 1,2-Diazetidin-3-ones by the Ugi Reaction Comprising Chiral α-Hydrazino Acids

We report the synthesis of a structurally diverse library of chiral N^β-substituted 1,2-diazetidin-3-ones by a 4-center 3-component Ugi reaction comprising unprotected α-hydrazino acids. Various isocyanides and carbonyl compounds and both aldehydes and ketones were utilized. In addition, postcondensation modifications at three different sites have been demonstrated.

Enantioselective "organocatalysis in disguise" by the ligand sphere of chiral metal-templated complexes

Asymmetric catalysis holds a prominent position among the important developments in chemistry during the 20th century. This was acknowledged by the 2001 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Knowles, Noyori, and Sharpless for their development of chiral metal catalysts for organic transformations. The key feature of the catalysts was the crucial role of the chiral ligand and the nature of the metal ions, which promoted the catalytic conversions of the substrates via direct coordination. Subsequently the development of asymmetric organic catalysis opened new avenues to the synthesis of enantiopure compounds, avoiding any use of metal ions. Recently, an alternative approach to asymmetric catalysis emerged that relied on the catalytic functions of the ligands themselves boosted by coordination to metal ions. In other words, in these hybrid chiral catalysts the substrates are activated not by the metal ions but by the ligands. The activation and enantioselective control occurred via well-orchestrated and custom-tailored non-covalent interactions of the substrates with the ligand sphere of chiral metal complexes. In these metal-templated catalysts, the metal served either as a template (a purely structural role), or it constituted the exclusive source of chirality (metal-centred chirality due to the spatial arrangement of achiral or chiral bi-/tridentate ligands around an octahedral metal centre), and/or it increased the Brønsted acidity of the ligands. Although the field is still in its infancy, it represents an inspiring combination of both metal and organic catalysis and holds major unexplored potential to push the frontiers of asymmetric catalysis. Here we present an overview of this emerging field discussing the principles, applications and perspectives on the catalytic use of chiral metal complexes that operate as "organocatalysts in disguise". It has been demonstrated that these chiral metal complexes are efficient and provide high stereoselective control in asymmetric hydrogen bonding catalysis, phase-transfer catalysis, Brønsted acid/base catalysis, enamine catalysis, nucleophilic catalysis, and photocatalysis as well as bifunctional catalysis. Also, many of the catalysts have been identified as highly effective catalysts at remarkably low catalyst loadings. These hybrid systems offer many opportunities in the synthesis of chiral compounds and represent promising alternatives to metal-based and organocatalytic asymmetric transformations.

Recent developments in the synthesis and applications of chiral ferrocene ligands and organocatalysts in asymmetric catalysis

This review highlights recent advances in the synthesis and application of ferrocene-containing chiral ligands and organocatalysts in asymmetric catalysis.

Synthesis of C-Unsubstituted 1,2-Diazetidines and Their Ring-Opening Reactions via Selective N-N Bond Cleavage

C-Unsubstituted 1,2-diazetidines, a rarely studied type of four-membered heterocyclic compounds, were synthesized through an operationally simple intermolecular vicinal disubstitution reaction. 1,2-Diazetidine derivatives bearing various N-arylsulfonyl groups were readily accessed and studied by experimental and computed Raman spectra. The ring-opening reaction of the diazetidine was explored and resulted in the identification of a selective N-N bond cleavage with thiols as nucleophiles, which stereoselectively produced a new class of N-sulfenylimine derivatives with C-aminomethyl groups.

Chemical probes and drug leads from advances in synthetic planning and methodology

Screening of small-molecule libraries is a productive method for identifying both chemical probes of disease-related targets and potential starting points for drug discovery. In this article, we focus on strategies such as diversity-oriented synthesis that aim to explore novel areas of chemical space efficiently by populating small-molecule libraries with compounds containing structural features that are typically under-represented in commercially available screening collections. Drawing from more than a decade's worth of examples, we highlight how the design and synthesis of such libraries have been enabled by modern synthetic chemistry, and we illustrate the impact of the resultant chemical probes and drug leads in a wide range of diseases.

Tertiary amine-catalyzed and direct synthesis of α-chloroalkanesulfonylhydrazines from azodicarboxylates and sulfonyl chlorides

α-Chloroalkanesulfonylhydrazines were synthesized directly and efficiently from alkanesulfonyl chlorides and dialkyl azodicarboxylates under the catalysis of tertiary amines.

Enantioselective synthesis of planar-chiral ferrocene-fused 4-pyridones and their application in construction of pyridine-based organocatalyst library

A couple of planar-chiral ferrocene-fused 4-pyridone derivatives 2a and 2b were synthesized in enantiomerically pure form by scalable asymmetric transformations. Pyridones 2 are versatile precursors to various ferrocene-fused pyridine derivatives, which are useful nucleophilic asymmetric organocatalysts.

Remodeling natural products: chemistry and serine hydrolase activity of a rocaglate-derived β-lactone

Flavaglines are a class of natural products with potent insecticidal and anticancer activities. β-Lactones are a privileged structural motif found in both therapeutic agents and chemical probes. Herein, we report the synthesis, unexpected light-driven di-epimerization, and activity-based protein profiling of a novel rocaglate-derived β-lactone. In addition to in vitro inhibition of the serine hydrolases ABHD10 and ACOT1/2, the most potent β-lactone enantiomer was also found to inhibit these enzymes, as well as the serine peptidases CTSA and SCPEP1, in PC3 cells.

Competitive activity-based protein profiling identifies aza-β-lactams as a versatile chemotype for serine hydrolase inhibition

Serine hydrolases are one of the largest and most diverse enzyme classes in Nature. Most serine hydrolases lack selective inhibitors, which are valuable probes for assigning functions to these enzymes. We recently discovered a set of aza-β-lactams (ABLs) that act as potent and selective inhibitors of the mammalian serine hydrolase protein-phosphatase methylesterase-1 (PME-1). The ABLs inactivate PME-1 by covalent acylation of the enzyme's serine nucleophile, suggesting that they could offer a general scaffold for serine hydrolase inhibitor discovery. Here, we have tested this hypothesis by screening ABLs more broadly against cell and tissue proteomes by competitive activity-based protein profiling (ABPP), leading to the discovery of lead inhibitors for several serine hydrolases, including the uncharacterized enzyme α,β-hydrolase domain-containing 10 (ABHD10). ABPP-guided medicinal chemistry yielded a compound ABL303 that potently (IC(50) ≈ 30 nM) and selectively inactivated ABHD10 in vitro and in living cells. A comparison of optimized inhibitors for PME-1 and ABHD10 indicates that modest structural changes that alter steric bulk can tailor the ABL to selectively react with distinct, distantly related serine hydrolases. Our findings, taken together, designate the ABL as a versatile reactive group for creating first-in-class serine hydrolase inhibitors.

Direct amination of α-substituted nitroacetates using di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate catalyzed by Hatakeyama's catalyst β-ICD

We report the first example of catalytic asymmetric direct amination of α-monosubstituted nitroacetates using di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate. The simple and easily available Hatakeyama's catalyst β-ICD 11 was found to be a highly enantioselective catalyst for this reaction.

The pharmacological landscape and therapeutic potential of serine hydrolases

Serine hydrolases perform crucial roles in many biological processes, and several of these enzymes are targets of approved drugs for indications such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and infectious diseases. Despite this, most of the human serine hydrolases (of which there are more than 200) remain poorly characterized with respect to their physiological substrates and functions, and the vast majority lack selective, in vivo-active inhibitors. Here, we review the current state of pharmacology for mammalian serine hydrolases, including marketed drugs, compounds that are under clinical investigation and selective inhibitors emerging from academic probe development efforts. We also highlight recent methodological advances that have accelerated the rate of inhibitor discovery and optimization for serine hydrolases, which we anticipate will aid in their biological characterization and, in some cases, therapeutic validation.

Discovery and optimization of sulfonyl acrylonitriles as selective, covalent inhibitors of protein phosphatase methylesterase-1

The serine hydrolase protein phosphatase methylesterase-1 (PME-1) regulates the methylesterification state of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and has been implicated in cancer and Alzheimer's disease. We recently reported a fluorescence polarization-activity-based protein profiling (fluopol-ABPP) high-throughput screen for PME-1 that uncovered a remarkably potent and selective class of aza-β-lactam (ABL) PME-1 inhibitors. Here, we describe a distinct set of sulfonyl acrylonitrile inhibitors that also emerged from this screen. The optimized compound, 28 (AMZ30), selectively inactivates PME-1 and reduces the demethylated form of PP2A in living cells. Considering that 28 is structurally unrelated to ABL inhibitors of PME-1, these agents, together, provide a valuable set of pharmacological probes to study the role of methylation in regulating PP2A function. We furthermore observed that several serine hydrolases were sensitive to analogues of 28, suggesting that more extensive structural exploration of the sulfonyl acrylonitrile chemotype may result in useful inhibitors for other members of this large enzyme class.

Academic cross-fertilization by public screening yields a remarkable class of protein phosphatase methylesterase-1 inhibitors

National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored screening centers provide academic researchers with a special opportunity to pursue small-molecule probes for protein targets that are outside the current interest of, or beyond the standard technologies employed by, the pharmaceutical industry. Here, we describe the outcome of an inhibitor screen for one such target, the enzyme protein phosphatase methylesterase-1 (PME-1), which regulates the methylesterification state of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and is implicated in cancer and neurodegeneration. Inhibitors of PME-1 have not yet been described, which we attribute, at least in part, to a dearth of substrate assays compatible with high-throughput screening. We show that PME-1 is assayable by fluorescence polarization-activity-based protein profiling (fluopol-ABPP) and use this platform to screen the 300,000+ member NIH small-molecule library. This screen identified an unusual class of compounds, the aza-β-lactams (ABLs), as potent (IC(50) values of approximately 10 nM), covalent PME-1 inhibitors. Interestingly, ABLs did not derive from a commercial vendor but rather an academic contribution to the public library. We show using competitive-ABPP that ABLs are exquisitely selective for PME-1 in living cells and mice, where enzyme inactivation leads to substantial reductions in demethylated PP2A. In summary, we have combined advanced synthetic and chemoproteomic methods to discover a class of ABL inhibitors that can be used to selectively perturb PME-1 activity in diverse biological systems. More generally, these results illustrate how public screening centers can serve as hubs to create spontaneous collaborative opportunities between synthetic chemistry and chemical biology labs interested in creating first-in-class pharmacological probes for challenging protein targets.

Structure-enantioselectivity effects in 3,4-dihydropyrimido[2,1-b]benzothiazole-based isothioureas as enantioselective acylation catalysts

The catalytic activity and enantioselectivity in the kinetic resolution of (±)-1-naphthylethanol with a range of structurally related 3,4-dihydropyrimido[2,1-b]benzothiazole-based catalysts is examined. Of the isothiourea catalysts screened, (2S,3R)-2-phenyl-3-isopropyl substitution proved optimal, giving good levels of selectivity in the kinetic resolution of a number of secondary alcohols (S values up to >100 at ~50% conversion). Low catalyst loadings (0.10-0.25 mol%) of the optimal isothiourea can be used to generate enantiopure alcohols (>99% ee) in good yields.