Oxidative Indole Dearomatization for Asymmetric Furoindoline Synthesis by a Flavin-Dependent Monooxygenase Involved in the Biosynthesis of Bicyclic Thiopeptide Thiostrepton

Regiodivergent catalytic asymmetric dearomative cycloaddition of bicyclic heteroaromatics

The catalytic dearomative cycloaddition of bicyclic heteroaromatics including benzofurans and indoles provides rapid access to functionalized heterocyclic molecules. Because of the inherent stereoelectronic differences, the furan or pyrrole nucleus is more prone to dearomative cycloaddition than the benzene ring. Here, we realized a geometry-based differentiation approach for achieving C6-C7 and C7-C7a regioselectivity. The rotationally restricted σ bond at C7 position respectively placed the C6-C7 and C7-C7a sites of benzofurans or indoles in an optimal spatial orientation toward the axially chiral heterodiene, thus affording two enantioenriched polycyclic compounds from a single racemic heterobiaryl atropisomers. Calculation results of density functional theory interpreted the mechanism of this parallel kinetic resolution. The bioactivity of the dearomatized products was evaluated in cancer cell lines with certain compounds exhibiting interesting biological activities.

Enlightening the Path to Protein Engineering: Chemoselective Turn-On Probes for High-Throughput Screening of Enzymatic Activity

Many successful stories in enzyme engineering are based on the creation of randomized diversity in large mutant libraries, containing millions to billions of enzyme variants. Methods that enabled their evaluation with high throughput are dominated by spectroscopic techniques due to their high speed and sensitivity. A large proportion of studies relies on fluorogenic substrates that mimic the chemical properties of the target or coupled enzymatic assays with an optical read-out that assesses the desired catalytic efficiency indirectly. The most reliable hits, however, are achieved by screening for conversions of the starting material to the desired product. For this purpose, functional group assays offer a general approach to achieve a fast, optical read-out. They use the chemoselectivity, differences in electronic and steric properties of various functional groups, to reduce the number of false-positive results and the analytical noise stemming from enzymatic background activities. This review summarizes the developments and use of functional group probes for chemoselective derivatizations, with a clear focus on screening for enzymatic activity in protein engineering.

Efficient Biosynthesis of (S)-1-chloro-2-heptanol Catalyzed by a Newly Isolated Fungi Curvularia hominis B-36

(S)-1-chloro-2-heptanol is an enantiopure chemical of great value that can synthesize Treprostinil for treating primary pulmonary hypertension. In this work, a new strain B-36, capable of asymmetric reduction of 1-chloro-2-heptanone to (S)-1-chloro-2-heptanol, was screened and identified as Curvularia hominis B-36 (CCTCC M 2017654) based on the morphological and internally transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence. The reductive capacity of Curvularia hominis B-36 was investigated as a whole-cell biocatalyst in the bioreduction, and the excellent yield (97.2%) and enantiomeric excess (ee) value (99.9%) were achieved under the optimal conditions as follows: 75 mM 1-chloro-2-heptanone, K2HPO4-KH2PO4 (100 mM, pH 6.0), 50 g L−1 resting cells (dry cell weight; DCW), 15% (v/v) isopropanol as co-substrate, 200 rpm, 30 °C, 20 h. The scaled-up biocatalytic process was accomplished at a bioreactor in a 1.5 L working volume, showing superb yield (~97%) and selectivity (99.9%). The product (S)-1-chloro-2-heptanol was purified and characterized by NMR. Curvularia hominis B-36 is a novel catalyst and the asymmetric synthesis route is benign and eco-friendly.

Copper-Catalyzed Selective Oxidative Cross-Coupling of Tryptophols and Tryptamines To Access Heterocyclic 3a,3a'-Bisindolines

The first example of cyclization cross-coupling of tryptophols and tryptamines has been realized by copper catalysis with air or oxone as the terminal oxidant, resulting in the direct construction of a new class of heterocyclic 3a,3a'-bisindolines in moderate to good yields with high chemoselectivities. A series of mechanistic control experiments were also conducted, indicating that the copper catalyst selectively coordinates with the nitrogen moiety of the tryptamine to initiate the oxidation, and a nucleophilic-alkylation process is proposed for the carbon-carbon bond-forming in the reaction. The novel synthetic strategies and molecular skeletons outlined in this work provide new ideas and concepts for the design of other useful reaction and potential drugs.

Copper catalyzed dearomatization by Michael-type addition of indolyl ynones: divergent synthesis of functionalized spiroindoles and cyclopenta[c]quinolin-3-ones

Described herein is a copper-catalyzed multifunctionalization of indolyl ynones, allowing the synthesis of dihalogen-substituted spiroindoles. This Cu catalysis is also applicable to the synthesis of cyclopenta[c]quinolin-3-ones via decarbonylation.

Pd-catalyzed allylative dearomatisation using Grignard reagents

Pd-catalyzed allylative dearomatisation of naphthyl halides is shown to be feasible by employing Grignard reagents. The high reactivity of the nucleophile allows for fast reactions and low catalyst loading, while a plethora of successfully substituted compounds illustrate the broad scope. Five membered heteroaromatic compounds are also demonstrated to be reactive under similar conditions.

Dearomatisation of benzylic halides have been achieved using Grignard reagents resulting in good isolated yields in short reaction times.