Enantioselective biomimetic cyclization of 2′-hydroxychalcones to flavanones

Assembly of the Tricyclic Core of Alopecurone C by Asymmetric Donor/Donor Carbene C-H Insertion

Two routes to assemble the complete tricyclic core of alopecurone C are described. In the first-generation route, an efficient synthesis of the "eastern" half of the target, including a decagram-scale rhodium-catalyzed C-H insertion reaction, was developed. When this route proved intractable for assembling the final flavanone ring, a successful second-generation route was developed from a flavanone precursor (naringenin) employing a later stage C-H insertion. Although the second route was ultimately unsuccessful for preparation of the final target, it does provide the basis for the efficient assembly of the complete tricyclic core of alopecurone C and related flavonostilbenoid natural products.

Synthesis, Conformational Analysis and ctDNA Binding Studies of Flavonoid Analogues Possessing the 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl Moiety

Flavanones and their biochemical precursors, chalcones, are naturally occurring compounds and consist of privileged scaffolds used in drug discovery due to their wide range of biological activities. In this work, two novel flavanones (3 and 4), the arylidene flavanone 5, and the chalcone 6, displaying structural analogies with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), were synthesized via an aldol reaction. According to the antioxidant activity studies of the synthesized flavanones, the arylidene flavanone 5 was the most potent antioxidant (70.8% interaction with DPPH radical and 77.4% inhibition of lipid peroxidation). In addition, the ability of the synthesized compounds to bind with ctDNA was measured via UV-spectroscopy, revealing that chalcone 6 has the strongest interaction with DNA (Kb = 5.0 × 10−3 M−1), while molecular docking was exploited to simulate the compound-DNA complexes. In an effort to explore the conformational features of the novel synthetic flavanones (3 and 4), arylidene flavanone 5, and chalcone 6, theoretical calculations were applied and the calculation of their physicochemical properties was also performed.

Synthesis and Stereochemical Characterization of a Novel Chiral α-Tetrazole Binaphthylazepine Organocatalyst

A novel α-tetrazole-substituted 1,1′-binaphthylazepine chiral catalyst has been synthesized and its absolute configuration has been determined by DFT computational analysis of the vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectrum of its precursor. The VCD analysis, carried out through the model averaging method, allowed to assign the absolute configuration of a benzylic stereocenter in the presence of a chiral binaphthyl moiety. The 1,1′-binaphthylazepine tetrazole and the nitrile its immediate synthetic precursor, have been preliminarily tested as chiral organocatalysts in the asymmetric intramolecular oxa-Michael cyclization of 2-hydroxy chalcones for the synthesis of chiral flavanones obtaining low enantioselectivity.

Asymmetric Synthesis of Sakuranetin-Relevant Flavanones for the Identification of New Chiral Antifungal Leads

Discovery and efficient synthesis of new promising leads have a central role in agrochemical science. Reported herein is the sakuranetin-directed synergistic exploration of an asymmetric synthesis and an antifungal evaluation of chiral flavanones. A new palladium catalytic system with CarOx-type ligands was successfully identified for the highly enantioselective addition of arylboronic acids to chromones. This enabled the facile and programmable construction of a constellation of chiral flavanones (up to 98% yield and 97% ee), in which (R)-pinostrobin was efficiently constructed without laborious protecting/deprotecting operations. Its good performance in asymmetric induction and functional tolerance expanded the chemical space of pharmaceutically important flavanones. The chiral differentiation of flavanones based on antifungal activity and a concise structure-activity relationship model was disclosed and summarized. This synergistic project culminated with acquisition of the naturally unprecedented flavanones with better antifungal potentials than sakuranetin, in which the R-enantiomer of flavanone 54 (EC₅₀ = 0.8 μM) demonstrated better performance than boscalid against Rhizoctonia solani. The novel scaffold and predicted new target compared with the commercial fungicides in the FRAC reinforce the value of further exploration.

DFT Study on the Reaction Mechanism of Cyclization of 2-Hydroxy Chalcone Catalyzed by Bronsted Acid with M06-2X Functional

Flavanones are one of the flavonoid group that has wide variety of applications such as a precursors in drug discovery. In the laboratory, flavanone is often synthesized from chalcone compounds. The conversion of chalcone to flavanone can be catalyzed by bronsted acid. The reaction mechanism for this process is proposed through the Michael addition reaction, however, the energetic details and the rate determining step for this reaction is not certainly known. This research aimed to investigate the reaction mechanism for chalcone-flavanone conversion with the present of bronsted acid as catalyst and also studied the effect of the solvent on the reaction energy profile with computational method. In this study, the modeling of the reaction mechanism for the said reaction was carried out using the DFT computational method with M06-2X functional. The computation was done both in the gas phase and in present of the solvent effect using the PCM models. The results showed that the mechanism of chalcone-flavanone conversion occurred in three steps which are protonation, cyclization, and then tautomerization. Based on these calculations, the rate determining step was the tautomerization reaction, which exhibited the same results with or without the solvent effects. Copyright © 2021 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). 

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of tetrasubstituted chromanones via palladium-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate arylation using chiral pyridine-dihydroisoquinoline ligands

Highly enantioselective conjugate addition reactions of arylboronic acids to 2-substituted chromones catalyzed by palladium complexes with new chiral Pyridine-Dihydroisoquinoline (PyDHIQ) ligands have been developed. These reactions provide highly enantioselective access to chromanones containing tetrasubstituted stereocenters. Various arylboronic acids and 2-substituted chromones can be used in the catalytic reaction to afford the chiral tetrasubstituted chromanones in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities (25 examples, up to 98% yields, up to 99% ee).

Hydrogenation of Halogenated 2'-Hydroxychalcones by Mycelia of Marine-Derived Fungus Penicillium raistrickii

This study describes the chemoselective hydrogenation reaction of halogenated 2'-hydroxychalcones by the marine-derived fungus Penicillium raistrickii CBMAI 931. Initially, 2'-hydroxychalcone was utilized as a model for the selection of the appropriate conditions to perform the biotransformation reactions. The best results were obtained using mycelia and filtered culture broth, and this condition was chosen for the biotransformation reaction of 2'-hydroxychalcones substituted with methoxy and halogen groups. Experiments performed with 2'-hydroxychalcones dissolved in 600 μL-DMSO were more effective than those performed using 300 μL-DMSO, once solubility of the compounds influenced conversion rate in the liquid medium. The halogenated 2'-hydroxy-dihydrochalcones were obtained in good conversions (78-99%) and moderate isolated yields (31-65%). All biotransformation reactions using the marine-derived fungus P. raistrickii CBMAI 931 showed regioselective and chemoselective control for the formation of 2'-hydroxy-dihydrochalcones.

Racemic hemiacetals as oxygen-centered pronucleophiles triggering cascade 1,4-addition/Michael reaction through dynamic kinetic resolution under iminium catalysis. Development and mechanistic insights

2-Hydroxydihydropyran-5-ones behave as excellent polyfunctional reagents able to react with enals through oxa-Michael/Michael process cascade under the combination of iminium and enamine catalysis. These racemic hemiacetalic compounds are used as unconventional O-pronucleophiles in the initial oxa-Michael reaction, also leading to the formation of a single stereoisomer under a dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) process. Importantly, by using β-aryl or β-alkyl substituted α,β-unsaturated substrates as initial Michael acceptors either kinetically or thermodynamically controlled diastereoisomers were formed with high stereoselection through the careful selection of the reaction conditions. Finally, a complete experimental and computational study confirmed the initially proposed DKR process during the catalytic oxa-Michael/Michael cascade reaction and also explained the kinetic/thermodynamic pathway operating in each case.

Organocatalytic one-pot asymmetric synthesis of 2-aryl-2,3-dihydro-4-quinolones

A highly efficient organocatalytic one-pot approach for enantioselective synthesis of (R)-2-aryl-2,3-dihydro-4-quinolones from o-aminoacetophenones and aryl aldehydes has been achieved.

Pyranone natural products as inspirations for catalytic reaction discovery and development

Natural products continue to provide a wealth of opportunities in the areas of chemical and therapeutic development. These structures are effective measuring sticks for the current state of chemical synthesis as a field and constantly inspire new approaches and strategies. Tetrahydropryans and tetrahydropyran-4-ones are found in numerous bioactive marine natural products and medicinal compounds. Our interest in exploring the therapeutic potential of natural products containing these motifs provided the impetus to explore new methods to access highly functionalized, chiral pyran molecules in the most direct and rapid fashion possible. This goal led to exploration and development of a Lewis acid-mediated Prins reaction between a chiral β-hydroxy-dioxinone and aldehyde to produce a pyran-dioxinone fused product that can be processed in a single pot operation to the desired tetrahydropyran-4-ones in excellent yield and stereoselectivity. Although the Prins reaction is a commonly employed approach toward pyrans, this method uniquely provides a 3-carboxy-trisubstituted pyran and utilizes dioxinones in a manner that was underexplored at the time. The 3-carboxy substituent served as a key synthetic handhold when this method was applied to the synthesis of highly functionalized pyrans within the macrocyclic natural products neopeltolide, okilactiomycin, and exiguolide. When employed in challenging macrocyclizations, this tetrahydropyranone forming reaction proved highly stereoselective and robust. Another major thrust in our lab has been the synthesis of benzopyranone natural products, specifically flavonoids, because this broad and diverse family of compounds possesses an equally broad range of biological and medicinal applications. With the goal of developing a broad platform toward the synthesis of enantioenriched flavonoid analogs and natural products, a biomimetic, asymmetric catalytic approach toward the synthesis of 2-aryl benzopyranones was developed. A bifunctional hydrogen bonding/Brønstead base catalyst was ultimately found to enable this transformation in analogous manner to the biosynthesis via the enzyme chalcone isomerase. Employing thiourea catalysts derived from the pseudoenantiomeric quinine and quinidine, alkylidene β-ketoesters can be isomerized to 3-carboxy flavanones and decarboxylated in a single pot operation to stereodivergently provide highly enantioenriched flavanones in excellent yield. This method was applied to the synthesis of the abyssinone family of natural products, as well as the rotenoid, deguelin. An analogous method to isomerize chalcones was developed and applied to the synthesis of isosilybin A. In both of these related endeavors, the need for novel enabling methodologies toward the efficient creation of targeted molecular complexity drove the discovery, development and deployment of these stereoselective catalytic transformations.

A biomimetic strategy to access the silybins: total synthesis of (-)-isosilybin A

We report the first asymmetric, total synthesis of (-)-isosilybin A. A late-stage catalytic biomimetic cyclization of a highly functionalized chalcone is employed to form the characteristic benzopyranone ring. A robust and flexible approach to this chalcone provides an entry to the preparation of the entire isomeric family of silybin natural products.

Design and fabrication of mesoporous heterogeneous basic catalysts

Recent advances in mesoporous solid bases were reviewed, and fundamental principles of how to fabricate efficient basic catalysts were highlighted.