EPR Studies of V-ATPase with Spin-Labeled Inhibitors DCC and Archazolid: Interaction Dynamics with Proton Translocating Subunit c

Paramagnetic Chemical Probes for Studying Biological Macromolecules

Paramagnetic chemical probes have been used in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for more than four decades. Recent years witnessed a great increase in the variety of probes for the study of biological macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, and oligosaccharides). This Review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing paramagnetic chemical probes, including chemical synthetic approaches, functional properties, and selected applications. Recent developments have seen, in particular, a rapid expansion of the range of lanthanoid probes with anisotropic magnetic susceptibilities for the generation of structural restraints based on residual dipolar couplings and pseudocontact shifts in solution and solid state NMR spectroscopy, mostly for protein studies. Also many new isotropic paramagnetic probes, suitable for NMR measurements of paramagnetic relaxation enhancements, as well as EPR spectroscopic studies (in particular double resonance techniques) have been developed and employed to investigate biological macromolecules. Notwithstanding the large number of reported probes, only few have found broad application and further development of probes for dedicated applications is foreseen.

Modular Total Synthesis of iso-Archazolids and Archazologs

Full details on the design, development, and successful implementation of suitable synthetic strategies directed toward the total synthesis of iso-archazolids and archazologs are reported. Both a biomimetic and a multistep total synthesis of iso-archazolid B, the most potent and least abundant archazolid, are described. The bioinspired conversion from archazolid B was realized by a high-yielding 1,8-Diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene catalyzed one-step double-bond shift. A highly stereoselective total synthesis was accomplished in 25 steps, involving a sequence of highly stereoselective aldol reactions, an efficient aldol condensation to forge two elaborate fragments, and a challenging ring-closing metathesis macrocyclization with an unusual Stewart-Grubbs catalyst. These strategies proved to be generally useful and could be successfully implemented for the preparation of three novel iso-archazolids as well as five novel archazologs, lacking the thiazole side chain. A wide variety of further archazolids and archazologs may now be targeted for exploration of the promising anticancer potential of these polyketide macrolides.

Design and Synthesis of Simplified Polyketide Analogs: New Modalities beyond the Rule of 5

Natural products provide important lead structures for development of pharmaceutical agents or present attractive tools for medicinal chemistry. However, structurally complex and thus less accessible metabolites defying conventional drug-like properties, as expressed by Pfizer's rule of five, have received less attention as medicinal leads. Traditionally, research focus has been on realizing total syntheses rather than developing more readily available analogs to resolve the critical supply issue. However, very recent studies with complex myxobacterial polyketides have demonstrated that considerable structural simplification may be realized with retention of biological potencies. The context, underlying rationale and importance of tailored synthetic strategies of three such case studies are presented, which may inspire further related activities and may eventually help exploiting the largely untapped biological potential of complex metabolites in general.

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Highly Potent Simplified Archazolids

The archazolids are potent antiproliferative compounds that have recently emerged as a novel class of promising anticancer agents. Their complex macrolide structures and scarce natural supply make the development of more readily available analogues highly important. Herein, we report the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of four simplified and partially saturated archazolid derivatives. We also reveal important structure‐activity relationship data as well as insights into the pharmacophore of these complex polyketides.

Advances in the synthesis of nitroxide radicals for use in biomolecule spin labelling

EPR spectroscopy is an increasingly useful analytical tool to probe biomolecule structure, dynamic behaviour, and interactions. Nitroxide radicals are the most commonly used radical probe in EPR experiments, and many methods have been developed for their synthesis, as well as incorporation into biomolecules using site-directed spin labelling. In this Tutorial Review, we discuss the most practical methods for the synthesis of nitroxides, focusing on the tunability of their structures, the manipulation of their sidechains into spin labelling handles, and their installation into biomolecules.

Total syntheses of the archazolids: an emerging class of novel anticancer drugs

V-ATPase has recently emerged as a promising novel anticancer target based on extensive in vitro and in vivo studies with the archazolids, complex polyketide macrolides which present the most potent V-ATPase inhibitors known to date, rendering these macrolides important lead structures for the development of novel anticancer agents. The limited natural supply of these metabolites from their myxobacterial source renders total synthesis of vital importance for the further preclinical development. This review describes in detail the various tactics and strategies employed so far in archazolid syntheses that culminated in three total syntheses and discusses the future synthetic challenges that have to be addressed.

Design, Synthesis, EPR-Studies and Conformational Bias of Novel Spin-Labeled DCC-Analogues for the Highly Regioselective Labeling of Aliphatic and Aromatic Carboxylic Acids

Novel types of spin-labeled N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimides (DCC) are reported that bear a 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxyl (TEMPO) residue on one side and different aromatic and aliphatic cyclohexyl analogues on the other side of the diimide core. These readily available novel reagents add efficiently to aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids, forming two possible spin-labeled amide derivatives with different radical distances of the resulting amide. The addition of aromatic DCC analogues proceeds with excellent selectivity, giving amides where the carboxylic acid is exclusively connected to the aromatic residue, while little or no selectivity was observed for the aliphatic congeners. The usefulness of these adducts in structural studies was demonstrated by EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) measurements of biradical adducts of biphenyl-4,4'-dicarboxylic acids. These analyses also reveal high degrees of conformational bias for aromatic DCC derivatives, which further underlines the powerfulness of these novel reagents. This observation was further corroborated by quantum chemical calculations, giving a detailed understanding of the structural dynamics, while detailed information on the solid state structure of all novel reagents was obtained by X-ray structure analyses.