Fluorogenic kinetic assay for high-throughput discovery of stereoselective ketoreductases relevant to pharmaceutical synthesis

Enantiomerically pure 1-(6-methoxynaphth-2-yl) and 1-(6-(dimethylamino)naphth-2-yl) carbinols are fluorogenic substrates for aldo/keto reductase (KRED) enzymes, which allow the highly sensitive and reliable determination of activity and kinetic constants of known and unknown enzymes, as well as an immediate enantioselectivity typing. Because of its simplicity in microtiter plate format, the assay qualifies for the discovery of novel KREDs of yet unknown specificity among this vast enzyme superfamily. The suitability of this approach for enzyme typing is illustrated by an exemplary screening of a large collection of short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) enzymes arrayed from a metagenomic approach. We believe that this assay format should match well the pharmaceutical industry’s demand for acetophenone-type substrates and the continuing interest in new enzymes with broad substrate promiscuity for the synthesis of chiral, non-racemic carbinols.     

Experimental Evidence Leading to an Alternative Explanation of Why <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>-tyrosine Sometimes Crystallizes Faster than Its <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>-Enantiomer

On the occasions when D-tyrosine is observed to crystallize faster than its L-enantiomer, it is the result of a diastereomeric interaction between an airborne, non-racemic, chiral influence--probably a fungal spore--and the tyrosine enantiomers, enhancing the degree of crystal nucleation of D-tyrosine over L-tyrosine. This explanation, supported by experimental evidence, is presented as a more plausible alternative to the Shinitzky-Deamer hypothesis (Shinitzky et al., Progress in biological chirality, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 329-337, 2004; Deamer et al., Chirality, 19:751-763, 2007) which relies on the parity violation energy difference between enantiomers, a femtojoule to picojoule per mole theoretical energy range.     

Significance of chirality in pheromone science

Pheromones play important roles in chemical communication among organisms. Various chiral and non-racemic pheromones have been identified since the late 1960s. Their enantioselective syntheses could establish the absolute configuration of the naturally occurring pheromones and clarified the relationships between absolute configuration and bioactivity. For example, neither the (R)- nor (S)-enantiomer of sulcatol, the aggregation pheromone of an ambrosia beetle Gnathotrichus sulcatus, is behaviorally active, while their mixture is bioactive. In the case of olean, the olive fruit fly pheromone, its (R)-isomer is active for the males, and the (S)-isomer is active for the females. About 140 chiral pheromones are reviewed with regard to their stereochemistry–bioactivity relationships. Problems encountered in studying chirality of pheromones were examined and analyzed to think about possible future directions in pheromone science.     

A refined synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-aminocyclobutanecarboxylic acids

The synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-aminocyclobutanecarboxylic acids has been refined to improve both the efficiency and the simplicity. These improvements provide a shorter and easier access to the racemic cis-cyclobutane β-amino acid core. Derivatization of this material with a chiral non-racemic oxazolidin-2-one allows easy diastereoisomeric separation and presents the advantage of allowing the non-destructive cleavage of the chiral auxiliary either by hydrolysis or by ammonolysis, thus providing an efficacious access to N-protected derivatives of all four stereoisomers of Boc-2-aminocyclobutanecarboxylic acid.     

Characterization of the chirality of the monohydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acids produced by rat basophilic leukemia cells

Incubation of rat basophilic leukemia cells with exogenous arachidonic acid and permeabilizing concentrations of ethanol resulted in the production of 5-, 12-, and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids. With chiral phase high performance liquid chromatography, it was demonstrated that the 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid had strict (S) stereospecificity while contrary to expectation, the 12- and the 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids were non-racemic mixtures of the stereoisomers with the S/R ratios averaging 8.6 and 2.2, respectively. If the strict (S) stereospecificity of mammalian lipoxygenases holds true, these results suggest that the 15- and 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids may be derived from non-lipoxygenase sources. Examination of the chirality of the oxygenase products of unsaturated fatty acids may be of value in defining the enzymes which are activated in vivo in pathological states.     

Enantiomer self-disproportionation and chiral stationary phase based selective chiral separation of organic compounds

In modern chromatography, chiral stationary phase (CSP) and enantiomer self-disproportionation (ESD) are new inventions of packing material offer a guarantee for a successful enantiomeric separation. All CSPs were synthesized by chemical bonding of the relevant organic moieties onto a porous parent silica material for the separation of various racemic mixtures whereas achiral silica matrix was used for separation of non-racemic mixtures in ESD. Our present study provides to establish an understanding on the entire enantio-selective profile of amino alcohol based CSP as well as ESD and their precise utilization for high success rates for selective enantiomer separation with its appropriateness.     

Controlling chirality

New strategies are continually being developed for using enzymes to efficiently catalyse the enantioselective synthesis of chiral non-racemic compounds. Alternatives to asymmetric synthesis or kinetic resolution include dynamic kinetic resolution, deracemisation and enantioconvergent transformations. Moreover, a much greater understanding is being developed of the parameters that can affect the stereochemical outcome of the reaction (e.g. solvent, substrate design, immobilization and directed evolution).     

Asymmetric bioreduction of activated C=C bonds using enoate reductases from the old yellow enzyme family

The asymmetric bioreduction of alkenes bearing an electron-withdrawing group using flavin-dependent enzymes from the 'old yellow enzyme' family at the expense of NAD(P)H yields the corresponding non-racemic alkanes going in hand with the creation of up to two chiral carbon centres. To avoid external cofactor recycling, this intriguing biotransformation was hitherto performed using whole microbial cells, which frequently showed insufficient stereoselectivities and/or undesired side reactions because of the action of competing enzymatic activities. Co-expression of enoate reductases with the corresponding redox enzymes for NAD(P)H recycling in a suitable host enables to overcome these drawbacks to furnish highly stereoselective and 'clean' C=C bioreductions on a preparative scale that are difficult to perform by conventional means.     

Synthesis and SAR studies of chiral non-racemic dexoxadrol analogues as uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists

A series of chiral non-racemic dexoxadrol analogues with various substituents in position 4 of the piperidine ring was synthesized and pharmacologically evaluated. Only the enantiomers having (S)-configuration at the 2-position of the piperidine ring and 4-position of the dioxolane ring were considered. Key steps in the synthesis were an imino-Diels-Alder reaction of enantiomerically pure imine (S)-13, which had been obtained from d-mannitol, with Danishefsky's Diene 14 and the replacement of the p-methoxybenzyl protective group with a Cbz-group. It was shown that (S,S)-configuration of the ring junction (position 2 of the piperidine ring and position 4 of the dioxolane ring) and axial orientation of the C-4-substituent ((4S)-configuration) are crucial for high NMDA receptor affinity. 2-(2,2-Diphenyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)piperidines with a hydroxy moiety ((S,S,S)-5, K(i)=28nM), a fluorine atom ((S,S,S)-6, WMS-2539, K(i)=7nM) and two fluorine atoms ((S,S)-7, K(i)=48nM) in position 4 represent the most potent NMDA antagonists with high selectivity against σ(1) and σ(2) receptors and the polyamine binding site of the NMDA receptor. The NMDA receptor affinities of the new ligands were correlated with their electrostatic potentials, calculated gas phase proton affinities (negative enthalpies of deprotonation) and dipole moments. According to these calculations decreasing proton affinity and increasing dipole moment are correlated with decreasing NMDA receptor affinity.     

Chiral Amplification of Oligopeptides via Polymerization in Two-dimensional Crystallites on Water

A possible role that might have been played by ordered clusters at the air/water interface for the generation of homochiral oligopeptides under prebiotic conditions has been probed by a catalyzed polymerization of amphiphilic activated alpha-amino acids that assembled as two-dimensional (2-D) crystallites at this interface. Three type of processes are described: (i) polymerization of racemates of activated alpha-amino acids that undergo spontaneous resolution into enantiomorphous 2-D crystallites to yield racemic mixtures of oligopeptides enriched with the oligomers of homochiral sequence, (ii) enhanced formation of racemic mixtures of homochiral oligopeptides via lattice-controlled polymerization within 2-D racemic compounds and (iii) generation of homochiral oligopeptides of a single handedness from chiral non-racemic mixtures of monomers that self-assemble into two different phases, racemic crystallites composed from both enantiomers and enantiomorphous crystallites of the enantiomer in excess. The structures of the 2-D crystallites have been determined by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and the diastereoisomeric composition of the oligopeptides by matrix-assisted laser-desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry with enantio-labeling.     

Single diastereomers of unsymmetrical tris-spirocyclic cyclotriphosphazenes based on 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol--synthesis and structures

Diastereoselective synthesis and characterization of chiral unsymmetrical tris-spirocyclic cyclotriphosphazenes based on chiral 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) are reported. Specifically, the chiral compounds (-)N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](O-2,2'C(6)H(4)-C(6)H(4)O)Cl(2) [(-)-4] and (-)N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](OCH(2)CH(2)NMe)(2) [(-)-5] are prepared by starting with the chiral mono-spiro compound (-)N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)]Cl(4) [(-)-3]. Synthesis of four other chiral spirocyclics, N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](OCH(2)CH(2) NMe)(O-2,2'C(6)H(4)-C(6)H(4)O)[(-)-6 and (+)-6], N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](NMe(2))(4) [(-)-7], N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](O-2,2'C(6)H(4)-C(6)H(4)O)(NMeCH(2)CH(2)OH)(2) [(-)-8 and (+)-8], and N(3)P(3)[1,1'-O(2)(C(10)H(6))(2)](O-2,2'C(6)H(4)-C(6)H(4)O)[NHCH(2)CH(2)CH(2)Si(OEt)(3)](2) (9) is also reported herein. Compounds 4-6 are obtained in the solid state diastereoselectively and their X-ray structures have been determined and discussed. The diastereoselectivity is also shown by structural characterization of two distinct isomers in the case of 6 [(-)-6 and (+)-6, respectively] by starting with precursor of 3 having (R) or (S)-BINOL residue. The (1)H NMR spectra of 7 and 8 exhibit doublets with virtual coupling for the methyl protons, consistent with the chiral nature of the binaphthoxy residue. The potential of 9, which hydrolyzes readily in CDCl(3) solution, as a useful precursor for chiral polymer applications is highlighted.     

Synthesis of 8-Oxa analogues of norcocaine endowed with interesting cocaine-like activity.

In order to further explore the importance of cocaine's bridge nitrogen atom in binding to the dopamine transporter (DAT), we have synthesized the previously known racemic 8-oxa-norcocaines 3-6 in which the nitrogen atom has been replaced by oxygen. Additionally, to avoid incorrect interpretations of biological data that may stem from the use of racemic materials, several of these analogues were synthesized and tested in non-racemic form. (-)-8-Oxa-norcocaine (3) was found to bind to the cocaine recognition site and to inhibit the dopamine transporter with potencies only about 8-fold and 4-fold, respectively, less than those of norcocaine (2). (-)-8-Oxa-pseudonorcocaine (4) as well as (+)-8-oxa-norcocaine (3) were found to be comparable in activity to (-)-oxa-norcocaine. These pharmacological findings support our earlier suggestion that cocaine is likely to bind in its neutral form to the DAT.     

Ethynylglycine synthon from Garner’s aldehyde: a useful precursor for the synthesis of non-natural amino acids

Summary. The ethynylglycine synthon, namely (R)-2,2-dimethyl-3-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-4-ethynyl-oxazolidine, can be obtained through the synthetic elaboration of naturally occurring serine. This compound has been exploited as a helpful and versatile non-racemic building block to be used for the design and synthesis of biologically important compounds, mainly non-natural α-amino acids. Taking advantage of the terminal acetylene moiety several synthetic applications can be designed. Metalation followed by trapping with electrophiles or Cu/Pd catalysed coupling with aromatic halogenides are shown to deliver useful precursors of ethynylglycine derivatives. Additions of bimetallic reagents like stannyl- or silylcuprates are useful entries for the regio- and stereoselective functionalization of the lateral chain, aimed at the synthesis of modified vinylglycine precursors.An overview of our recent work in the field will be given, and the use of ethynylglycine synthon in the synthesis of non-racemic saturated and unsaturated non-natural amino acids will be briefly reviewed.     

1,3,5-Triazine multiselector systems: New tools for chiral discrimination

2-Hexylamino-4-[(S)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamino]-6-L-valyl-L-valyl-L-valine isopropylester-1,3,5-triazine (1), a molecule characterized by two different chiral selectors, and 2-hexylamino-4,6-bis-L-valyl-L-valyl-L-valine isopropylester-1,3,5-triazine (2) and 2-ethoxy-4-hexylamino-6-[(S)-1-(1-naphthyl) ethylamino]-1,3,5-triazine (3), systems in which a single kind of chiral selector is present, have been prepared. The enantiodiscriminating ability in solution of the three compounds toward the N-3,5-dinitrobenzoyl derivatives of 1-phenylethylamine (4) or valine methylester (5) has been investigated by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy: 1 shows an improved versatility, relative to 2 and 3, as a chiral solvating agent for NMR spectroscopy. On the basis of the indications obtained, the usefulness of 2-chloro-4-[(S)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamino]-6-L-val-L-val-L-valine isopropylester-1,3,5-triazine (1a), a direct precursor of 1, as chiral solvating agent for the determination by NMR of the enantiomeric compositions of derivatives of amines, amino alcohols, amino acids, and carboxyl acids bearing a 3,5-dinitrophenyl moiety, has been demonstrated. Chirality 9:113–121, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Enantioseparation properties of (1-->6)-alpha-D-glucopyranan and (1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranan tris(phenylcarbamate)s as chiral stationary phases in HPLC

Synthetic polysaccharides, (1-->6)-alpha-D-glucopyranan (3a) and (1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranan (3b), were prepared by the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 1,6-anhydro-2,3,4-tri-O-allyl-beta-D-glucopyranose (1a) and 1,6-anhydro-2,3,4-O-6-allyl-beta-D-mannopyranose (1b), followed by the cleavage of the allyl ether linkage of 2,3,4-tri-O-allyl-(1-->6)-alpha-D-glucopyranan (2a) and 2,3,4-tri-O-allyl-(1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranan (2b), respectively. 2,3,4-Tris-O-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamoyl)- and 2,3,4-tris-O-(3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamoyl)-(1-->6)-alpha-D-glucopyranan (CSP-1 and CSP-2, respectively) and 2,3,4-tris-O-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamoyl)- and 2,3,4-tris-O-(3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamoyl)-(1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranan (CSP-3 and CSP-4, respectively) were prepared by the reaction of 3 with the corresponding 3,5-disubstituted phenylisocyanates and the chiral recognition abilities of CSP-1-4 as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were evaluated. Racemic compounds such as trans-cyclopropanedicarboxylic acid dianilide (9), 1,2,2,2-tetraphenylethanol (10), flavanone (11), Tr?ger's base (12), benzoin (13), and cobalt(III) tris(acetylacetonate) (14) were efficiently resolved using CSP-1-4. For comparison among CSPs, the chiral recognition properties of the (1-->6)-alpha-D-glucopyranan CSPs were different from that of the (1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranan CSPs, and CSP-4 exhibited the highest chiral recognition ability among the CSPs. The resolution factors of 12 and 14 were 0.42 and 0.56 for CSP-1, 0.32 and 2.16 for CSP-2, 1.80 and 0.84 for CSP-3, and 2.31 and 8.26 for CSP-4, respectively.     

Evaluation of "click" binaphthyl chiral stationary phases by liquid chromatography

Two "click" binaphthyl chiral stationary phases were synthesized and evaluated by liquid chromatography. Their structures incorporate S-(-)-1,1'-binaphthyl moiety as the chiral selector and 1,2,3-triazole ring as the spacer. These chiral stationary phases (CSPs) allowed the efficient resolution for a wide range of racemic BINOL derivatives, particularly for nonpolar diether derivatives and 3-phenyl indolin-2-one analogs. The chromatographic data showed that the π-π interaction was crucial for enantiorecognition of these CSPs. Loss of enantioselectivity observed on CSP3, which are lacking the triazole ring linkage, indicated that the triazole ring linkage took part in the enantioseparation process, although it was remote from the chiral selector of the CSP. The substitution of the phenyl group at 6 and 6' positions can significantly improve the separation ability of the CSP. The chiral recognition mechanism was also investigated by tracking the elution orders and studying the thermodynamic parameters.     

Enantiomeric enrichment of non-racemic mixtures of binaphthol with non-chiral packings

It is shown that chromatography with achiral phases of non-racemic mixture of binaphthol can furnish fractions which differ in enantiomeric excess. The first fraction contains one pure enantiomer i.e., has an enantiomeric excess (ee %) close to 100% and the following fractions have an ee % close to 0% (racemic mixture). As a consequence, such chromatography may be used to enrich a non-racemic mixture of binaphthol in one enantiomer. In this paper a model is proposed allowing us to calculate with good accuracy the experimental elution curves. This simple model is capable of using only a few chromatographic experiments to predict the enantiomeric enrichment of a non-racemic mixture and to calculate precisely the retention time of each fraction. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Synthesis and application of chiral triazine condensing reagents prepared from esters of amino acids

Treatment of cyanuric chloride with chiral amines or esters of chiral amino acids gave chiral 2,4-dichloro-6-alkylamino-1,3,5-triazines (2-5) in 49-69% yield, which were found useful as coupling reagents. Enantioselective activation and enantioselective aminolysis in the presence of 2-5 was observed.     

Configurational stability of chiral lithiated cyclopropylnitriles: a density functional study

Chiral, configurationally stable lithiated nitriles would be valuable intermediates for asymmetric carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. To gain insight into the design of such species, Walborsky's attempted enantioselective deprotonation/trapping reactions of a chiral cyclopropylnitrile were studied computationally up to the MP2(fc)/6-31+G* and B3LYP/6-31+G* levels. Investigation of cyclopropylnitrile/LiNH(2) deprotonation transition structures demonstrated a significant (20-23 kcal/mol) kinetic preference for N-lithiation, and a facile (4-6 kcal/mol barrier) "conducted tour" racemization pathway for the N-lithiated nitrile product. Addition of a model directing group (formyl) to the beta-carbon of the cyclopropyl ring is predicted to significantly favor C-lithiation over N-lithiation, both kinetically and thermodynamically. Thus, chiral beta-Lewis base substituted cyclopropylnitriles may serve as precursors to chiral, configurationally stable organolithium reagents.     

Preparation and evaluation of biselector bonded-type multifunctional chiral stationary phase based on dialdehyde cellulose and 6-monodeoxy-6-monoamino-β-cyclodextrine derivatives

A novel biselector bonded-type multifunctional chiral stationary phase (MCSP) was prepared by covalently crosslinking dialdehyde cellulose (DAC) with 6-monodeoxy-6-monoamino-β-cyclodextrine (CD) via Schiff base reaction. The biselector bonded-type MCSP had good chiral and achiral chromatographic performance in normal phase (NP) and reversed phase (RP) modes. Seven and eight enantiomers were successfully separated on the prepared biselector bonded-type MCSP in NP and RP modes, respectively. The biselector bonded-type MCSP showed enhanced chiral resolution ability compared with single selector chiral stationary phases due to the simultaneous introduction of DAC and 6-monodeoxy-6-monoamino-β-CD on the surface of silica gel. Aromatic compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, anilines, phenols, phenylates, and aromatic acids were choosed as analytes to investigate the achiral chromatographic performance of the biselector bonded-type MCSP in NP and RP modes. Chromatographic evaluation results showed that the above aromatic compounds were essentially capable of achieving baseline separation by hydrophobic interaction, π-π interaction, and π-π electron-donor-acceptor interaction. Moreover, the host-guest inclusion effect of 6-monodeoxy-6-monoamino-β-CD and the multiple interactions made the biselector bonded-type MCSP have good steric selectivity. The preparation method of the biselector bonded-type MCSP was simple and provided a new idea and strategy for the preparation of the subsequent novel biselector MCSP.