Enabling Synthesis of ABBV-2222, A CFTR Corrector for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis

Enabling Asymmetric Synthesis of ABBV-3748, a Corrector Compound for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis

ABBV-3748 is a C2 corrector for the treatment of cystic fibrosis profiled among AbbVie's CFTR portfolio. A decagram-scale enabling asymmetric synthesis is described which addresses numerous shortcomings of the original route. Highlights include an InBr₃-catalyzed intramolecular hydroarylation reaction that rapidly assembles the chromane core, an exceptionally efficient asymmetric hydrogenation of a primary enamide, and identification of tBuMgCl as a uniquely effective base in a challenging acyl sulfonamide formation.

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.

Fueling the Pipeline via Innovations in Organic Synthesis

The paramount importance of synthetic organic chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry arises from the necessity to physically prepare all designed molecules to obtain key data to feed the design-synthesis-data cycle, with the medicinal chemist at the center of this cycle. Synthesis specialists accelerate the cycle of medicinal chemistry innovation by rapidly identifying and executing impactful synthetic methods and strategies to accomplish project goals, addressing the synthetic accessibility bottleneck that often plagues discovery efforts. At AbbVie, Discovery Synthesis Groups (DSGs) such as Centralized Organic Synthesis (COS) have been deployed as embedded members of medicinal chemistry teams, filling the gap between discovery and process chemistry. COS chemists provide synthetic tools, scaffolds, and lead compounds to fuel the pipeline. Examples of project contributions from neuroscience, cystic fibrosis, and virology illustrate the impact of the DSG approach. In the first ten years of innovative science in pursuit of excellence in synthesis, several advanced drug candidates, including ABBV-2222 (galicaftor) for cystic fibrosis and foslevodopa/foscarbidopa for Parkinson's disease, have emerged with key contributions from COS.

Recent advances in palladium-catalysed asymmetric 1,4-additions of arylboronic acids to conjugated enones and chromones

The transition metal (palladium)-catalysed asymmetric 1,4-addition of arylboronic acids to conjugated enones belong to the most important and emerging strategies for the construction of C-C bonds in an asymmetric fashion. This review covers known catalytic systems used for this transformation. For clarity, we are using the type of ligand as a sorting criterion. Finally, we attempted to create a flowchart facilitating the selection of a suitable ligand for a given combination of enone and arylboronic acid.

Late-stage difluoromethylation: concepts, developments and perspective

This review describes the conceptual advances that have led to the multiple difluoromethylation processes making use of well-defined CF₂H sources.

General Asymmetric Synthesis of Densely Functionalized Pyrrolidines via Endo-Selective [3+2] Cycloaddition of β-Quaternary-Substituted Nitroalkenes and Azomethine Ylides

A scalable endo-selective synthesis of 2,3,4,5-tetrasubstituted pyrrolidines via cycloaddition of nitroalkenes and azomethine ylides is reported using a P,N-type ferrocenyl ligand and [Cu(OTf)]₂·C₆H₆. The robust method is tolerant of a wide range of functionalities, including rarely reported quaternary nitroalkene substitution and heteroaromatic and hindered ortho-substituted arenes on the azomethine ylide. Subsequent transformations highlight the utility of the method in the synthesis of densely functionalized small molecules suitable for fragment-based drug discovery and the cystic fibrosis C2-corrector clinical candidate ABBV-3221.