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Enantioselective construction of small molecules displaying a configurationally stable helical shape built on a fused-tetracyclic core is a daunting synthetic challenge even more pronounced when five-membered rings are incorporated in the structure. The resulting higher configurational lability strongly hampers their access, and therefore the development of new efficient methodologies is timely and highly desirable. In this context, we describe a padlocking approach via the enantioselective organocatalytic domino furannulation of appropriately designed achiral fused-tricyclic precursors resulting in the synthesis of configurationally locked helically chiral tetracyclic scaffolds featuring one or two five-membered rings with the simultaneous control of central and helical chiralities., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Regioselective access to heterohelicenes through the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of sydnones with arynes is described. Novel access to sydnones and poly(hetero)aromatic aryne precursors allowed the introduction of chemical diversity over multiple positions of the helical scaffolds. The origins of the unconventional regioselectivity during the cycloaddition steps was systematically investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, unveiling the key features that control this reactivity, namely, face-to-face (π···π) or edge-to-face (C-H···π) interactions, primary orbital interactions and distortion from coplanarity in the transition structures (TSs) of the transformation. From the library of 24 derivatives synthesized, a pyridyl containing derivative displayed reversible, red-shifted, pH-triggered chiroptical switching properties, with CPL-sign reversal. It is found that protonation of the helicene causes a change of the angle between the electric and magnetic dipole moments related to the S 1 → S 0 transition, resulting in this rare case of reversible CPL sign inversion upon application of an external stimulus., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

We have discovered a new mode of reactivity of 1-thiosugars in the presence of Cu(II) or Co(II) for a stereoselective O -glycosylation reaction. The process involves the use of a catalytic amount of Cu(acac) 2 or Co(acac) 2 and Ag 2 CO 3 as an oxidant in α,α,α-trifluorotoluene. Moreover, this protocol turned out to have a broad scope, allowing the preparation of a wide range of complex substituted O -glycoside esters in good to excellent yields with an exclusive 1,2-trans-selectivity. The late-stage modification of pharmaceuticals by this method was also demonstrated. To obtain a closer insight into the reaction mechanism, cyclic voltammetry was performed.

We describe herein a Pd-catalyzed methodology for the thioglycoconjugation of iodoaryl peptides and aminoacids. This operationally simple process occurs under semi-aqueous conditions and displays wide substrate scope. The strategy has been successfully applied to both the thioglycosylation of unprotected peptides and the generation of thioglyco-aminoacid building blocks, including those suitable for solid phase peptide synthesis. To demonstrate the broad potential of this technique for late stage functionalization, we successfully incorporated challenging unprotected β- S -GlcNAc- and α- S -GalNAc-derivatives into very long unprotected peptides. This study opens the way to new applications in chemical biology, considering the well-recognized advantages of S -glycosides over O -glycosides in terms of resistance towards both enzymatic and chemical degradation.

A convergent total synthesis of MK-801 has been achieved. Key synthetic transformations include a multicomponent Barbier-type reaction to construct the α-branched amine, a selective Heck α-coupling tactic to generate the exocyclic alkene skeleton, and a late-stage intramolecular hydroamination reaction between the exocyclic alkene and the secondary protected amine. The efficacy of this method was demonstrated by the synthesis of two news analogues substituted on the aromatic rings.