Solid supported high-throughput organic synthesis of peptide β-turn mimetics via tandem Petasis reaction/diketopiperazine formation

Visualized and Quantitative Conformational Analysis of Peptidomimetics

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are fundamentally important and challenging drug targets. Peptidomimetic molecules of various types have been developed to modulate PPIs. A particularly promising drug discovery strategy, structural peptidomimetics, was designed based on special mimicking of side-chain C_α-C_β bonds. It is simple and versatile. Nevertheless, no quantitative method has been established to evaluate its similarity to a target peptide motif. We developed two methods that enable visual, comprehensive, and quantitative analysis of peptidomimetics: peptide conformation distribution (PCD) plot and peptidomimetic analysis (PMA) map. These methods specifically examine multiple side-chain C_α-C_β bonds of a peptide fragment motif and their corresponding bonds (pseudo-C_α-C_β bonds) in a mimetic molecule instead of φ and ψ angles of a single amino acid in the traditional Ramachandran plot. The PCD plot is an alignment-free method, whereas the PMA map is an alignment-based method providing distinctive and complementary analysis. Results obtained from analysis using these two methods indicate our multifacial α-helix mimetic scaffold 12 as an excellent peptidomimetic that can precisely mimic the spatial positioning of side-chain functional groups of α-helix. These methods are useful for visualized and quantified evaluation of peptidomimetics and for the rational design of new mimetic scaffolds.

Heterocycles as a Peptidomimetic Scaffold: Solid-Phase Synthesis Strategies

Peptidomimetics are a privileged class of pharmacophores that exhibit improved physicochemical and biological properties. Solid-phase synthesis is a powerful tool for gaining rapid access to libraries of molecules from small molecules to biopolymers and also is widely used for the synthesis of peptidomimetics. Small molecules including heterocycles serve as a core for hundreds of drugs, including peptidomimetic molecules. This review covers solid-phase synthesis strategies for peptidomimetics molecules based on heterocycles.

Rapid synthesis of alkylaminophenols via the Petasis borono–Mannich reaction using protonated trititanate nanotubes as robust solid–acid catalysts

The Petasis borono–Mannich reaction was applied to the synthesis of alkylaminophenols from o-hydroxybenzaldehydes, secondary amines and boronic acids in the presence of H₂Ti₃O₇ nanotubes as reusable solid–acid catalysts.

Concise Synthesis of Tetrazole-keto-piperazines by Two Consecutive Ugi Reactions

A concise route for the synthesis of the novel compound class tetrazole–diketopiperazines was developed. The approach involves the use of two multicomponent reactions: the Ugi tetrazole four‐component reaction (4CR) and the classical intramolecular Ugi 4CR. The tetrazole–diketopiperazines comprise analogs of and are bioisosteric to bioactive diketopiperazines, which thus draws attention for novel bioactive compound design. This scaffold was produced to fill the screening deck of the European lead factory.

Isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions towards cyclic constrained peptidomimetics

In the recent past, the design and synthesis of peptide mimics (peptidomimetics) has received much attention. This because they have shown in many cases enhanced pharmacological properties over their natural peptide analogues. In particular, the incorporation of cyclic constructs into peptides is of high interest as they reduce the flexibility of the peptide enhancing often affinity for a certain receptor. Moreover, these cyclic mimics force the molecule into a well-defined secondary structure. Constraint structural and conformational features are often found in biological active peptides. For the synthesis of cyclic constrained peptidomimetics usually a sequence of multiple reactions has been applied, which makes it difficult to easily introduce structural diversity necessary for fine tuning the biological activity. A promising approach to tackle this problem is the use of multicomponent reactions (MCRs), because they can introduce both structural diversity and molecular complexity in only one step. Among the MCRs, the isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (IMCRs) are most relevant for the synthesis of peptidomimetics because they provide peptide-like products. However, these IMCRs usually give linear products and in order to obtain cyclic constrained peptidomimetics, the acyclic products have to be cyclized via additional cyclization strategies. This is possible via incorporation of bifunctional substrates into the initial IMCR. Examples of such bifunctional groups are N-protected amino acids, convertible isocyanides or MCR-components that bear an additional alkene, alkyne or azide moiety and can be cyclized via either a deprotection-cyclization strategy, a ring-closing metathesis, a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition or even via a sequence of multiple multicomponent reactions. The sequential IMCR-cyclization reactions can afford small cyclic peptide mimics (ranging from four- to seven-membered rings), medium-sized cyclic constructs or peptidic macrocycles (>12 membered rings). This review describes the developments since 2002 of IMCRs-cyclization strategies towards a wide variety of small cyclic mimics, medium sized cyclic constructs and macrocyclic peptidomimetics.

One-pot synthesis of new substituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazoles via Petasis reaction

The one-pot synthesis of a new substituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazoles has been described via Petasis reactions. These tetrahydrocarbazoles exhibits various medicinal importance and might be suitable for elaboration into larger peptides at carboxy termini. The scope and limitations of this method have been examined.

Defining scaffold geometries for interacting with proteins: geometrical classification of secondary structure linking regions

Medicinal chemists synthesize arrays of molecules by attaching functional groups to scaffolds. There is evidence suggesting that some scaffolds yield biologically active molecules more than others, these are termed privileged substructures. One role of the scaffold is to present its side-chains for molecular recognition, and biologically relevant scaffolds may present side-chains in biologically relevant geometries or shapes. Since drug discovery is primarily focused on the discovery of compounds that bind to proteinaceous targets, we have been deciphering the scaffold shapes that are used for binding proteins as they reflect biologically relevant shapes. To decipher the scaffold architecture that is important for binding protein surfaces, we have analyzed the scaffold architecture of protein loops, which are defined in this context as continuous four residue segments of a protein chain that are not part of an α-helix or β-strand secondary structure. Loops are an important molecular recognition motif of proteins. We have found that 39 clusters reflect the scaffold architecture of 89% of the 23,331 loops in the dataset, with average intra-cluster and inter-cluster RMSD of 0.47 and 1.91, respectively. These protein loop scaffolds all have distinct shapes. We have used these 39 clusters that reflect the scaffold architecture of protein loops as biological descriptors. This involved generation of a small dataset of scaffold-based peptidomimetics. We found that peptidomimetic scaffolds with reported biological activities matched loop scaffold geometries and those peptidomimetic scaffolds with no reported biologically activities did not. This preliminary evidence suggests that organic scaffolds with tight matches to the preferred loop scaffolds of proteins, implies the likelihood of the scaffold to be biologically relevant.

Stereoselectivity of the Petasis reaction with various chiral amines and styrenylboronic acids

Several chiral amines were investigated for the stereoselective preparation of homophenylalanine derivatives using the Petasis reaction. Chiral secondary amines such as N,α-dimethylbenzylamine and N-benzylphenylglycinol gave the best results in terms of both yield and diastereoselectivity. The use of N-benzylphenylglycinol leads directly to 3-alkenyl-4-benzyl-5-phenyloxazin-2-one products. Intriguing variation was observed in the stereoselectivity of reactions employing para-substituted styrenylboronic acid substrates, where presumably only electronic factors are involved.

Preparation of diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonene-based peptidomimetics

Several functionalized diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonenes and other heterocycles have been prepared as potential peptidomimetic scaffolds. A novel and efficient method has been developed for the preparation of N-substituted gamma-lactams 13. Preparation of amidine-containing 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonenes 43 and 44 has been achieved through Hg-mediated cyclization of the precursor N-aminopropyl-gamma-thiolactams and subsequent functional group manipulation. Bicycle 43 represents a novel scaffold for potential peptide turn mimetics, whereas 44 could potentially be employed as an alpha-helix template attached to the C-terminus of peptides. These compounds are novel additions to the current range of small-molecule constrained peptidomimetics.

Cyclic peptoids

Foldamers are an intriguing family of biomimetic oligomers that exhibit a propensity to adopt stable secondary structures. N-Substituted glycine oligomers, or "peptoids", are a prototypical example of these foldamer systems and are known to form a helix resembling that of polyproline type I. Ongoing studies seek to improve the stability of peptoid folding and to discover new secondary structure motifs. Here, we report that peptoids undergo highly efficient head-to-tail macrocyclization reactions. A diverse array of peptoid sequences from pentamers to 20mers were converted to macrocyclic products within 5 min at room temperature. The introduction of the covalent constraint enhances conformational ordering, allowing for the crystallization of a cyclic peptoid hexamer and octamer. We present the first X-ray crystallographic structures of peptoid hetero-oligomers, revealing that peptoid macrocycles can form a reverse-turn conformation.

Organoboron Reagents in the Preparation of Functionalized ?-Amino Acids

Over the past decade, major advances in the preparation and utilization of organoboron reagents have been applied to virtually all areas of organic synthesis. The present review collates recent examples of the use of organoboron reagents in the synthesis of α-amino acids and their derivatives. Aryl- and alkenylboronic acids have been used in the asymmetric synthesis of α-amino acids through conjugate addition to unsaturated amino acids and the Petasis three-component coupling reaction. Additionally, α-amino acid derivatives with organoboron functionality on the side-chain have been prepared and used in metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions to prepare cross-linked amino acids and complex cyclic peptide natural products.

Short and novel stereospecific synthesis of trisubstituted 2,5-diketopiperazines

Novel syntheses of chiral trisubstituted 2,5-diketopiperazines using multicomponent Ugi reactions were developed.

Diketopiperazines in peptide and combinatorial chemistry

Diketopiperazines (DKPs), the smallest cyclic peptides, represent an important class of biologically active natural products and their research has been fundamental to many aspects of peptide chemistry. The advent of combinatorial chemistry has revived interest in DKPs for two reasons: firstly, they are simple heterocyclic scaffolds in which diversity can be introduced and stereochemically controlled at up to four positions; secondly, they can be prepared from readily available alpha-amino acids using very robust chemistry. Here synthetic methods, conformation, as well as applications of DKPs are summarized and discussed critically.

Solid-supported synthesis of putative peptide beta-turn mimetics via Ugi reaction for diketopiperazine formation

The scope and limitations of the solid-supported synthesis of a bicyclic diketopiperazine, an internal, putative peptide beta-turn mimetic, are presented. The 4CC multicomponent Ugi reaction of alpha-N-Boc-diaminopropionic acid resin ester (an amine input), optically active alpha-bromoacid, aldehyde, and isocyanide is the key step in the proposed synthetic protocol. Application of cyclitive cleavage as the final step led to desired products in high purity.

Synthesis of cyclic (alpha(2)beta)-tripeptides as potential peptide turn mimetics

[reaction: see text] The solid-supported synthesis followed by cyclization in solution of cyclic (alpha(2)beta)-tripeptides, potential peptide beta-turn mimetics, is described. The cyclization takes advantage of facilitating the rotation between trans- and cis-rotamers of two amide bonds. The method is amenable to combinatorial approaches as is illustrated by the synthesis of a small array of cyclic (alpha(2)beta)-tripeptides.

Universal solid-phase approach for the immobilization, derivatization, and resin-to-resin transfer reactions of boronic acids

Boronic acid-containing molecules are employed in a broad range of biological, medicinal, and synthetic applications. These compounds, however, tend to be difficult to handle by solution-phase methods. Herein, this problem is addressed with the development of the first general solid-phase approach for the derivatization of functionalized boronic acids. This approach is based on the use of a diethanolamine resin anchor that facilitates boronic acid immobilization by avoiding the need for exhaustive removal of water in the esterification process. The immobilization of a wide variety of boronic acids onto N,N-diethanolaminomethyl polystyrene (DEAM-PS, 1) can be performed within minutes by simple stirring in anhydrous solvents at room temperature. Evidence for the formation of a bicyclic diethanolamine boronate with putative N-B coordination was shown by (1)H NMR analysis of DEAM-PS-supported p-tolylboronic acid. The hydrolytic cleavage of the same model boronic acid from the DEAM-PS resin was studied by UV spectroscopy. Hydrolysis and attachment were shown to occur under a rapidly attained equilibrium, and a large excess of water (>32 equiv) is required to effect a practically quantitative release of boronic acids from DEAM-PS. Despite their relative sensitivity to water and alcohols, DEAM-PS-bound arylboronic acids functionalized with a formyl, a bromomethyl, a carboxyl, or an amino group can be transformed in good to excellent yields into a wide variety of amines, amides, anilides, and ureas, respectively. Ugi multicomponent reactions on DEAM-PS-supported aminobenzeneboronic acids, derivatization of multifunctional arylboronic acids, and sequential reactions can also be carried out efficiently. These new DEAM-PS-supported arylboronic acids can be employed directly into resin-to-resin transfer reactions (RRTR). This type of multiresin process helps eliminate time-consuming cleavage and transfer operations, thereby considerably simplifying the outlook of combinatorial library synthesis by manual or automated means. This concept was illustrated by a set of optimized procedures for the Suzuki cross-coupling and the borono-Mannich reactions.

Solid-supported synthesis of a peptide beta-turn mimetic

[structure: see text]The solid-supported synthesis of a bicyclic diketopiperazine, a potential peptide beta-turn mimetic, is described. The Ugi reaction between the resin ester of alpha-N-Boc-diaminopropionic acid (an amine input), alpha-bromo acid, aldehyde, and isocyanide is the key step in the proposed protocol.