Practical synthesis of two novel series of 1,3-disubstituted β-carboline derivatives

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

A new total synthesis of the β-carboline alkaloid brevicarine is disclosed. The synthesis was carried out starting from an aromatic triflate key intermediate, allowing the introduction of various substituents into position 4 of β-carboline by cross-coupling reactions. Thanks to its scalability, this novel approach ensures a broad accessibility to the target compound for potential pharmacological measurements. Using detailed NMR studies, the NMR signals have been assigned for both the base and its dihydrochloride salt for further confirming their structures. A new synthesis of the related alkaloid brevicolline was also attempted from the same intermediate. However, after successful coupling of β-carboline with N-methylpyrrole, the trials to saturate the pyrrole ring under various conditions led to unexpected reactions: reduction of ring A of the β-carboline skeleton or trifluoroethylation of the pyrrole moiety occurred, leading to interesting and potentially useful derivatives.

Chromatography-Free Multicomponent Synthesis of Thioureas Enabled by Aqueous Solution of Elemental Sulfur

The development of a new three-component chromatography-free reaction of isocyanides, amines and elemental sulfur allowed us the straightforward synthesis of thioureas in water. Considering a large pool of organic and inorganic bases, we first optimized the preparation of aqueous polysulfide solution from elemental sulfur. Using polysulfide solution, we were able to omit the otherwise mandatory chromatography, and to isolate the crystalline products directly from the reaction mixture by a simple filtration, retaining the sulfur in the solution phase. A wide range of thioureas synthesized in this way confirmed the reasonable substrate and functional group tolerance of our protocol.

First total synthesis of β-carboline alkaloid trigonostemine G and its derivatives

The β-carboline core is the base structure of several biologically active natural and unnatural compounds. Herein, we report the first total synthesis of trigonostemine G, which is a newly isolated natural β-carboline alkaloid from the twigs of Trigonostemon filipes. Synthesis of two structurally close derivatives of trigonostemine G is also reported. Key step of the syntheses involves a nucleophilic addition of 5-{[tert-butyl(dimethyl) silyl]oxy}-1H-indole to 1-formyl-β-carboline building blocks.

Access to 2-substituted 1-pyridin-3-yl-β-carboline derivatives by intramolecular radical cyclization-ring opening-SNAr substitution

A new method for the synthesis of 1-pyridin-3-yl-β-carboline derivatives involving an intramolecular radical reaction and S_NAr substitution, is described.