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A concise total synthesis of (±)-pestalachloride C and (±)-pestalachloride D was achieved through a Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder cascade reaction to test the nonenzymatic biosynthetic hypothesis of Shao, Wang, and co-workers. The cascade reaction generates a mixture of racemic indano[2,1- c]chromans like those found in the natural products.

Most palladium-catalyzed reactions involving insertion of alkylidenes with α-hydrogens undergo β-hydride elimination from alkylpalladium(II) intermediates to form alkenes. Vinyl iodides were shown to generate η(3)-allylpalladium intermediates that resist β-hydride elimination, preserving the sp(3) center adjacent to the carbene moiety. Acyclic stereocontrol (syn/anti) for carbenylative amination and alkylation reactions was low, suggesting a lack of control in the migratory insertion step. Highly hindered carbene precursors inexplicably led to formation of Z-alkenes with high levels of stereocontrol.

A spiroindolinone, (1S,3R,3aR,6aS)-1-benzyl-6'-chloro-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-7'-methylspiro[1,2,3a,6a-tetrahydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-3,3'-1H-indole]-2',4,6-trione, was previously reported to enhance the antifungal effect of fluconazole against Candida albicans. A diastereomer of this compound was synthesized, along with various analogues. Many of the compounds were shown to enhance the antifungal effect of fluconazole against C. albicans, some with exquisite potency. One spirocyclic piperazine derivative, which we have named synazo-1, was found to enhance the effect of fluconazole with an EC50 value of 300 pM against a susceptible strain of C. albicans and going as low as 2 nM against some resistant strains. Synazo-1 exhibits true synergy with fluconazole, with an FIC index below 0.5 in the strains tested. Synazo-1 exhibited low toxicity in mammalian cells relative to the concentrations required for antifungal synergy.

Indolocarbazole glycosides related to rebeccamycin represent a promising category of antitumor agents targeting DNA and topoisomerase I. These drugs prefer to adopt a closed conformation with an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the indole NH group and the pyranose oxygen atom. Three pairs of indolocarbazole monoglycosides bearing an NH or an N-methyl indole moiety were synthesized and their biological properties investigated at the molecular and cellular level. Replacing the indole NH proton with a methyl group reduces DNA interaction and abolishes activity against DNA topoisomerase I. Surface plasmon resonance studies performed with a pair of water-soluble indolocarbazole glycosides and two hairpin oligonucleotides containing an [AT]4 or a [CG]4 sequence indicate that both the NH and the N-methyl derivative maintain a relatively high affinity for DNA (Keq = 2 - 6 x 10(5) M(-1)) but the incorporation of the methyl group restricts access to the DNA. The number of ligand binding sites (n) on the oligonucleotides is about twice as high for the NH compound compared to its N-methyl analogue. Modeling and 1H NMR studies demonstrate that addition of the N-methyl group drives a radical change in conformation in which the orientation of the aglycone relative to the beta-glucoside is reversed. The loss of the closed conformation by the N-methyl derivatives perturbs thir ability to access DNA binding sites and prevents the drug from inhibiting topoisomerase I. As a consequence, the NH compounds exhibit potent cytotoxicity against CEM leukemia cells with an IC50 value in the 1 microM range, whereas the N-methyl analogues are 10 to 100 times less cytotoxic. These studies offer circumstantial evidence supporting the importance of the closed conformation in the interaction of indolocarbazole glycosides with their molecular targets, DNA and topoisomerase I.

Recent studies of peptide dimers linked by Trp-Trp (ditryptophan) crosslinks suggest that the crosslinks can reinforce antiparallel beta-structure. Depending on environment, gramicidins A, B and C form either helical ion channels with parallel beta-structure or non-functional pores with antiparallel beta-structure. In the channel conformation of the gramicidins Trp9 and Trp15 are close in space, but in the pore conformation Trp9 and Trp15 are far apart. We hypothesized that a ditryptophan crosslink between Trp9 and Trp15 could pre-organize gramicidin in an active conformation. To test the potential for preorganization, an intramolecular ditryptophan crosslink was formed between Trp9 and Trp15 in a W13F mutant of gramicidin B. Photooxidative conditions were shown to generate ditryptophan crosslinks in low yields. While not preparatively useful, photooxidative tryptophan crosslinking may have implications for protein aging processes like cataract formation. The ditryptophan crosslink in the gramicidin B mutant substantially lowered the antibiotic activity of the gramicidin B mutant, unlike the ditryptophan crosslink in the antibiotic X-indolicidin. The biaryl chromophore generated diagnostic Cotton effects in the CD spectrum that revealed the absolute stereochemistry of the biaryl chromophore, but the biaryl chromophore obscured diagnostic features below 220 nm. However, changes in peptide conformation were reflected in changes in the biaryl region of the CD spectrum above 240 nm.

Migratory insertion of benzylidene carbene ligands into arylpalladium(II) species generates η(3)-benzylpalladium intermediates that can cyclize to generate five- and six-membered rings with new sp(3) centers. The reaction tolerates a range of arene functional groups and stabilized enolates. The products generated through this reaction are 1-arylindanes and 1-aryltetralins that are common to a range of natural products.

Background: Two types of biaryl crosslinks can be formed with natural protein sidechains: ditryptophan and dityrosine. Biaryl crosslinks have the same topology as disulfide crosslinks, yet little is known about their effect on local peptide structure. Results: Three ditryptophan-linked peptide dimers based on the sequence Ac-Leu-Trp-Ala-COX were prepared. The tripeptide dimer with –CONH 2 termini was too insoluble to study, but the tripeptide dimer with –COOMe termini crystallized from methanol/chloroform as an antiparallel β-sheet. The tripeptide dimer with a –CONMe 2 termini adopted a slipped antiparallel β structure in methanol/chloroform. Conclusions: These results suggest that intermolecular ditryptophan crosslinks that join the middle of peptide chains can confer a preference for antiparallel β-sheet structure. The effect is most dramatic when both the inside and outside edges of the dimer can form hydrogen bonds as in the crystal structure of dimer 3b .

The 2,2‘-biindole core of ditryptophan cross-links is prominent in the fascaplysins and the indolocarbazole glycoside natural products. N-Acyliminium ions derived from the C-terminus of ditryptophan peptides cyclize in one of two modes: N-alkylation or C-alkylation. The surrounding peptide offers some control over the course of the cyclization and allows the preparation of homofascaplysin C or indolo[2,3-a]carbazole. These targets are modest, but they are generated through carbocyclic intermediates rich in stereochemistry, and decidedly non-peptide in character.

Indolocarbazole glycosides are balanced between two conformations: a "closed" conformation containing a cyclic hydrogen bond between the indolocarbazole NH and the pyranose oxygen and an "open" conformation in which the indolocarbazole NH is hydrogen bonded to solvent. The open conformation never has a commanding advantage, even in DMSO, but in nonpolar environments the cyclic conformation predominates.

Under acidic conditions tryptophan sidechains crosslink to form δ1, δ1′-tryptophan dimers through a Mannich-type mechanism. Tryptophan dimers are readily cleaved at high temperatures under acidic conditions making it impossible to isolate tryptophan dimers under standard conditions of acidic protein hydrolysis. In a prescriptive sense this cleavage can be used to recover peptides that have undergone tryptophan crosslinking, although the yields drop with increasing peptide length due to competitive cleavage of the amide bonds. The best conditions for cleavage involve heating the dimeric peptides in dilute ethanolic HCl at 150 °C in the presence of ten equivalents of ethanedithiol.

Peronatins A and B and 7,7‘-dimethoxyperonatin B, originally isolated from the damaged fruiting bodies of Collybia peronata and Tricholoma scalpturatum, have been synthesized by oxidative dimerization of 2-alkylindoles. The conversion of peronatin A to peronatin B was shown to be catalyzed by Bronsted acids in chloroform solution and inhibited by triethylamine, implicating a retro-Mannich/Mannich isomerization pathway under these conditions. Attempts to identify or trap out radical or ionic intermediates were unsuccessful.

A general strategy for the synthesis of aminocyclopentitol glycosidase inhibitors has been applied to the synthesis of allosamizoline and mannostatin A. These cyclic pseudosugars are members of a growing family of highly potent and selective glycosidase inhibitors. A palladium-catalyzed ionization/cyclization reaction for preparing oxazolidinones from meso-alkenediols forms the cornerstone for this approach toward the synthesis of highly functionalized cyclopentane rings

The first chiral C 3 triisopropylamine has been prepared with the stereogenic centers adjacent to the central nitrogen atom. This triol was converted to two new C 3 4,6,11-trimethylsilatranes. An X-ray structure revealed that the methyl substituents adopt sterically congested pseudoaxial orientations.

A new class of ligands for asymmetric transition metal catalysis based on 2-(diphenylphosphino)benzoic acid was used in a mechanistically-defined palladium-catalyzed reaction in which enantiodifferentiation was the result of selective ionization of substrates derived from cis-2-cycloalkene-1,4-diols. By making rational, stepwise changes in the ligand structure, the structural requirements for good asymmetric induction were probed. The absolute stereochemistry of the products was found to be related to the chirality of the ligand in a predictable fashion

Rebeccamycin and staurosporine represent two broad classes of indolocarbazole glycoside natural products with antitumor properties. Based upon previous sequence annotation and in vivo studies, rebG encodes for the rebeccamycin N-glucosyltransferase, and rebM for the requisite 4′-O-methyltransferase. In the current study, an efficient in vivo biotransformation system for RebG was established in both Streptomyces lividans and Escherichia coli. Bioconversion experiments revealed RebG to glucosylate a set of indolocarbazole surrogates, the products of which could be further modified by in vitro RebM-catalyzed 4′-O-methylation. Both RebG and RebM displayed substrate promiscuity, and evidence for a remarkable lack of RebG regioselectivity in the presence of asymmetric substrates is also provided. In the context of the created indolocarbazole analogues, cytotoxicity assays also highlight the importance of 4′-O-methylation for their biological activity.

The natural product phakellistatin 13 cyclo-(TrpProPheGlyProThrLeu) was synthesized. Photosensitized oxidation of phakellistatin 13 gave the natural products phakellistatin 3 and isophakellistatin 3, demonstrating for the first time that a tryptophan residue can be directly converted to the corresponding 3a-hydroxypyrrolo[2,3-b]indoline in a full length peptide. Competitive oxidation of the indoline product was identified as the cause of low mass balance and is probably the source of low mass balance in the oxidative cyclization of all tryptamine derivatives.

The natural product phakellistatin 13 cyclo-(TrpProPheGlyProThrLeu) was synthesized. Photosensitized oxidation of phakellistatin 13 gave the natural products phakellistatin 3 and isophakellistatin 3, demonstrating for the first time that a tryptophan residue can be directly converted to the corresponding 3a-hydroxypyrrolo[2,3-b]indoline in a full length peptide. Competitive oxidation of the indoline product was identified as the cause of low mass balance and is probably the source of low mass balance in the oxidative cyclization of all tryptamine derivatives. [reaction--see text]

The antibiotics AT2433-A1 and AT2433-B1 are two indolocarbazole diglycosides related to the antitumor drug rebeccamycin known to stabilize topoisomerase I-DNA complexes. This structural analogy prompted us to explore the binding of four indolocarbazole diglycosides with DNA and their capacity to interfere with the DNA cleavage-reunion reaction catalyzed by topoisomerase I. The molecular basis of the drug interaction with double-stranded DNA and with purified chromatin, with particular emphasis on the role of the carbohydrate moiety, was investigated by means of complementary spectroscopic techniques, including surface plasmon resonance and electric linear dichroism. We compared the DNA binding properties, sequence recognition, and effects on topoisomerase I-mediated DNA relaxation and cleavage of AT2433-A1 bearing a 2,4-dideoxy-4-methylamino-L-xylose residue, its dechlorinated analog AT2433-B1, the diastereoisomer iso-AT2433-B1 with an inverted aminosugar residue, and compounds 5H-indolo[2,3-a]pyrrolo[3,4-c]carbazole-5,7(6H)-dione, 12-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-12,13-dihydro-6-methyl (JDC-108) and 5H-indolo[2,3-a]pyrrolo[3, 4-c]carbazole-5,7(6H)-dione, 12-(6-O-alpha-D-galacto-pyranosyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-12,13-dihydro-6-methyl (JDC-277) with an uncharged mono- and disaccharide, respectively. The two antibiotics AT2433-A1 and AT2433-B1 proved to be highly cytotoxic to leukemia cells and this may be a consequence of their tight intercalative binding to DNA, preferentially into GC-rich sequences as inferred from DNase I footprinting studies and surface plasmon resonance measurements. Like the diastereoisomer iso-AT2433-B1, they have no inhibitory effect on topoisomerase I, in contrast to the uncharged diglycoside JDC-277, which stimulates DNA cleavage by the enzyme mainly at TG sites, as observed with camptothecin. Cytotoxicity measurements with CEM and CEM/C2 human leukemia cell lines sensitive and resistant to camptothecin, respectively, also suggested that topoisomerase I contributes, at least partially, to the mechanism of action of the neutral diglycoside JDC-277 but not to that of the cationic AT2433 compounds. Together, the results indicate that sequence-selective DNA interaction and topoisomerase I inhibition is controlled to a large extent by the stereochemistry of the diglycoside moiety.

The iron-catalyzed Kirmse reaction was used to generate neopentyl alpha-silyl thioethers that were elaborated to meroterpenes using two complementary routes: one route involved a sila-Pummerer rearrangement, and the other route involved a Peterson olefination. While severe eclipsing interactions undermined the efficiency of the stereospecific sila-Pummerer rearrangement, they made it possible to stereoselectively generate E olefins without isolation or separation of syn- and anti-beta-silyl alkoxides. Addition of a neopentyl alpha-silyl alkyllithium intermediate to an aryl aldehyde generated a mixture of syn- and anti-beta-silyl alkoxides. The syn-beta-silyl alkoxide eliminated stereospecifically at -78 degrees C to give an E olefin, whereas the anti-beta-silyl alkoxide was unreactive. The reaction mixture was then acidified and heated to induce stereospecific elimination of the anti isomer to give the same E olefin via a complementary cationic pathway. This route was used to complete the first synthesis of the meroterpene (+/-)-3-hydroxybakuchiol. In addition, we synthesized another meroterpene corresponding to the natural product corylifolin and offer evidence that the structure of corylifolin was misassigned.

The first chiral C 3 triisopropylamine has been prepared with the stereogenic centers adjacent to the central nitrogen atom. This triol was converted to two new C 3 4,6,11-trimethylsilatranes. An X-ray structure revealed that the methyl substituents adopt sterically congested pseudoaxial orientations.

The previously prepared disaccharide 2 was deprotected (3) and transformed into the trichloroacetimidate 4. In the presence of Me3SiOTf, 4 reacted regioselectively with the racemic allosamizoline benzyl ether 5, to yield (61%) the pseudotrisaccharides 7–10 (44:40:9:7) and the elimination product 6 (Scheme 1). Selective dephthaloylation (MeNH2, MeOH) of 7 and 8, followed by acetylation, gave 12 (73%) and 13 (74%), respectively (Scheme 2); harsher conditions (NH2NH2.H2O, EtOH, reflux), followed by acetylation, transformed 7 into 11. Deacetylation of 11–13 yielded 14–16, respectively. Allosamidin (1) was obtained in high yield by hydrogenation of 15 under acidic conditions (Scheme 3). Similarly, 16 and 14 were transformed into 17 and 18, respectively. Preliminary data on the inhibition of endochitinases by 1 and 17 are reported.