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An asymmetric synthesis of HCV NS5B nucleoside polymerase inhibitor (1) is described. This novel route features several remarkably diastereoselective and high-yielding transformations, including construction of the all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center at C-2 via a thermodynamic aldol reaction. A subsequent glycosylation reaction with activated uracil via C-1 phosphate and installation of the cyclic phosphate group using an achiral phosphorus(III) reagent followed by oxidation provides 1.

The development of a scalable asymmetric route to a new calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist is described. The synthesis of the two key fragments was redefined, and the intermediates were accessed through novel chemistry. Chiral lactam 2 was prepared by an enzyme mediated dynamic kinetic transamination which simultaneously set two stereocenters. Enzyme evolution resulted in an optimized transaminase providing the desired configuration in >60:1 syn/anti. The final chiral center was set via a crystallization induced diastereomeric transformation. The asymmetric spirocyclization to form the second fragment, chiral spiro acid intermediate 3, was catalyzed by a novel doubly quaternized phase transfer catalyst and provided optically pure material on isolation. With the two fragments in hand, development of their final union by amide bond formation and subsequent direct isolation is described. The described chemistry has been used to deliver over 100 kg of our desired target, ubrogepant.

A scalable and efficient synthesis of the GPR40 agonist MK-8666 was developed from a simple pyridine building block. The key step to set the stereochemistry at two centers relied on an enzymatic dynamic kinetic reduction of an unactivated ketone. Directed evolution was leveraged to generate an optimized ketoreductase that provided the desired trans alcohol in >30:1 dr and >99% ee. Further, it was demonstrated that all four diastereomers of this hydroxy-ester could be prepared in high yield and selectivity. Subsequently, a challenging intramolecular displacement was carried out to form the cyclopropane ring system with perfect control of endo/exo selectivity. The endgame coupling strategy relied on a Pd-catalyzed C–O coupling to join the headpiece chloropyridine with the benzylic alcohol tailpiece.

Compound 1, a potent and irreversible inhibitor of β-lactamases, is in clinical trials with β-lactam antibiotics for the treatment of serious and antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. A short, scalable, and cost-effective route for the production of this densely functionalized polycyclic molecule is described.

A convergent and enantioselective route to the hNK-1 receptor antagonist (1) is described, which sets all six stereogenic centers with high diastereoselectivity and delivers 1 in only 11 steps and 23% overall yield. The process was enabled by the development of the enantioselective enzymatic reduction of 3-functionalized cyclopentenones and stereospecific Pd-catalyzed etherification coupling of fragments 6 and 7.

The hNK-1 antagonist candidate 3 is synthetically one of most challenging antagonist candidates at Merck, having six chiral centers. The ether bond was formed via π-allyl palladium chemistry with the zinc alkoxide of the chiral alcohol and chiral 2-cyclopenten-1-ol, prepared via enzymatic reduction of the corresponding ketone, to set two chiral centers. 4-Fluorophenyl group was introduced to the cyclopentene ring via 1,4-addition in a stereospecific manner. The δ-lactam having the quaternary chiral amine function was embedded onto the cyclopentane ring using Seebach’s chiral oxazolidinone. In this article, scalable synthesis of 3 is described in a chronological order.

In a three-step sequence starting from readily available starting materials, 2,3-carbon disubstituted furo[2,3-b]pyridines can be accessed in good yields and purity. Furo[2,3-b]pyridines bearing ester, amide and ketone groups at the 2-position can be prepared with a variety of aryl and alkyl groups at the 3-position.

[Chemical reaction: See text] A Et3Al mediated intramolecular epoxide opening, cyclopropanation reaction is described. The transformation provided highly functionalized bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane systems in high efficiency and with perfect H or F endo selectivity. Application of this reaction to the synthesis of mGluR2/3 agonist 1 (43% overall yield) and a few intermediates suitable for the synthesis of other bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane mGluR2/3 agonists is discussed.

The asymmetric synthesis of a Merck anti-HIV drug candidate is described. The target molecule contains four stereogenic centers, three of which are located in a highly functionalized cyclopentane unit. The convergent synthesis involves the preparation of two key advanced intermediates: the cyclopentane unit and a substituted pyrazole unit. The cyclopentane unit was prepared via two different procedures; a highly diastereoselective Diels-Alder reaction with a chiral oxazolidinone auxiliary and a sequence that incorporated a molybdenum-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction to set the stereocenters. The other key step was a highly diastereoselective hydroxyl-directed reductive amination. The overall yield for the 16-step synthesis was 10%.

A practical preparation of an αvβ3 antagonist is reported. The antagonist consists of three key components, a tetrahydronaphthyridine moiety, a β-alanine moiety, and a central imidazolidone moiety. The tetrahydronaphthyridine component was prepared using two different methods, both of which relied on variations of the Friedlander reaction to establish the desired regiochemistry. The β-alanine component was prepared using Davies' asymmetric 1,4-addition methodology as the key stereo-defining step. The central imidazolidone portion was created from these two components using an effective three-step cyclization protocol. Thus, a highly convergent process for the drug candidate was defined.

An asymmetric synthesis of dual orexin receptor antagonist MK-6096 (1) is described. Key steps for the trans-2,5-disubstituted piperidinyl ether fragment include a biocatalytic transamination, a trans-selective Mukaiyama aldol, and a regioselective pyridyl SNAr process. The pyrimidyl benzoic acid was synthesized via a Negishi coupling and a nitrile hydrolysis. Coupling of the two fragments via a catalytic T3P-mediated amidation completed the synthesis. Unusual behaviors in the hydrolysis of pyrimidyl benzonitrile and the amide coupling of the pyrimidyl benzoic acid are also described.

Crystalline 1beta-methyl-2-formyl carbapenem pNB esters were prepared by osmium-mediated oxidative cleavage of the corresponding 2-vinyl derivatives. Reduction of the 2-formyl compounds gave the corresponding 2-hydroxymethyl derivatives, which are key intermediates for the anti-MRS carbapenem candidate (1).

An efficient, diastereoselective [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement of α-allyloxy-amide enolates has been developed using (1S,2R)-1-amino-indan-2-ol as a chiral auxiliary. After auxiliary removal, the resultant optically active α-hydroxy acids have been transformed to functionalized amino acid derivatives.

An efficient, diastereoselective [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement of α-allyloxy-amide enolates has been developed using (1S,2R)-1-amino-indan-2-ol as a chiral auxiliary. After auxiliary removal, the resultant optically active α-hydroxy acids have been transformed to functionalized amino acid derivatives.

Two new 3-cyano-3-cephem derivatives, potassium 3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (2) and potassium 7α-phenylacetamido-3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (3), were prepared from 7β-aminocephalosporanic acid. Compounds 2 and 3 showed only weak β-lactamase inhibitory activity in contrast to sodium 7α-[(1R)-1-hydroxyethyl]-3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (1), indicating the important role of the 7α-(1-hydroxyethyl) substituent for β-lactamase inhibitory activity.

The synthesis and biological properties of some 3-vinylthio- and 3-vinylthiomethylcephem derivatives are described. Both series possess potent antibacterial activity. Among them, 3-[(Z)-2-cyanovinylthiomethyl]cephem derivative was found to have an expanded antibacterial spectrum.

The preparation of 3-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridin-2-yl)propan-1-amine 2a and 3-[(7R)-7-methyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridin-2-yl]propan-1-amine 2b, key intermediates in the synthesis of alpha(V)beta(3) antagonists, is described. The syntheses rely on the efficient double Sonogashira reactions of 2,5-dibromopyridine 3 with acetylenic alcohols 4a/4b and protected propargylamines 10a-e followed by Chichibabin cyclizations of 3,3'-pyridine-2,5-diyldipropan-1-amines 9a/9b.

The major features of the catalytic cycle, including structures of key intermediates, have been determined for the molybdenum-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation. The crystal structure of the π-allyl intermediate exhibits 3-point binding of an anionic ligand. Based on NMR analysis, this species adopts in solution a structure consistent with that observed in the solid state. For the allylic alkylation, the crystal structure predicts the opposite stereochemistry vs. that observed experimentally, which suggests that either the reaction proceeds via a minor isomer (Curtin-Hammett conditions) or with retention of configuration. In addition, CO transfer, promoted by Mo(CO)6, has been found to play a key role in catalyst turnover.

An efficient and practical asymmetric synthesis of (+)-trans-3-hydroxymethyl-4-(3-fluorophenyl)cyclopentanone (1) is described. An asymmetric Mo-catalyzed alkylation reaction was used to establish the first stereocenter and a Cu-catalyzed intramolecular diastereoselective cyclopropanation reaction was used to set the second stereocenter. The last step involved a one-pot ring-opening/deprotection/hydrolysis/decarboxylation sequence that furnished the desired product in good yield.

Two new 3-cyano-3-cephem derivatives, potassium 3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (2) and potassium 7α-phenylacetamido-3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (3), were prepared from 7β-aminocephalosporanic acid. Compounds 2 and 3 showed only weak β-lactamase inhibitory activity in contrast to sodium 7α-[(1R)-1-hydroxyethyl]-3-cyano-3-cephem-4-carboxylate (1), indicating the important role of the 7α-(1-hydroxyethyl) substituent for β-lactamase inhibitory activity.

The main focus of this report was to investigate the relationship between β-lactamase inhibitory activity and oxidative state at the 1 position of 7α-hydroxyethyl cephem derivatives

Intramolecular reductive amination is utilized as a key 8-membered ring-forming cyclization reaction to construct the novel bicyclic hydroxylamine hemi-ketal ring system of FR900482.

A series of 7 alpha-hydroxyethyl-1-oxacephems (1) was synthesized. The main focus of this study was to investigate biological activity relationships between 1-oxacephems (1) and the corresponding cephems (2). Replacement of the sulfur atom of 2 by the oxygen atom caused an enhancement of antibacterial activity, although the antibacterial activity of 1 was not high enough. Additionally 1 showed beta-lactamase inhibitory activity, especially against cephalosporinase. However, the potency was lower than that of 2.

Swainsonine, a potential immunoregulator, was synthesized from D-mannose via an intermediate, methyl 4,8-imino-2,3-O-isopropylidene-4,6,7,8-tetradeoxy-α-D-manno-octopyranoside.

The novel, semisynthetic pseudodisaccharide antibiotic, 3-O-demethylsporaricin A, was synthesized via 3-O-demethylsporaricin B obtained by glycosidation of its aminocyclitol part. The aminocyclitol part was synthesized as D,L-form from D,L-(1,2,3/4,5,6)-1,4-bis(benzyloxy-carbonylamino)-5,6-O-isopropyl idene-2,3,5,6-cyclohexanetetraol via three key steps, namely, deoxygenation, inversion of a hydroxyl group, and N-methylation. The physical and biological properties of synthetic 3-O-demethylsporaricin A and an authentic sample derived from sporaricin B were identical.

Two stereoisomers of swainsonine, (1S,2S,8S,8aR)-1,2,8-trihydroxyoctahydroindolizine and the corresponding (1S,2R,8S,8aR) derivative, were synthesized from D-glucose via one step cyclization to the 5-oxo-1,2,8-trihydroxyoctahydroindolizine derivative.

Synthese du (1,2,4/5,6)-tri-O-acetyl-1,4,6 bis-benzyloxycarbonylamino-2,5 N-methyl-5 cyclohexanetriol-1,4,6 a partir de (1,2,3/4,5,6)-bis-benzyloxycarbonylamino-1,4 O-isopropylidene-2,3 cyclohexanetetraol-2,3,5,6

Swainsonine, a potential immunoregulator, was synthesized from D-mannose via an intermediate, methyl 4,8-imino-2,3-O-isopropylidene-4,6,7,8-tetradeoxy-α-D-manno-octopyranoside.

Two stereoisomers of swainsonine, (1S,2S,8S,8aR)-1,2,8-trihydroxyoctahydroindolizine and the corresponding (1S,2R,8S,8aR) derivative, were synthesized from D-glucose via one step cyclization to the 5-oxo-1,2,8-trihydroxyoctahydroindolizine derivative.

The synthesis and antiviral activity of 1-N-palmitoyl- or 1-N-(3-hydroxytetradecanoyl)-kanamycin A derivatives (7, 8) having various type of acyl substituents at the N-3" position were investigated. The structure-activity relationships between the antiviral activity and the substituent at the N-3" position is described. In this series, 3"-N-acetyl-1-N-palmitoylkanamycin A (7c) showed the excellent antiviral activity against HSV-I and influenza virus. Further, we examined the synthesis and the antiviral activity of 3"-N-glycylkanamycin A derivatives (9) having a higher-acyl group at the N-1 position. The 3"-N-glycyl-1-N-pentadecanoylkanamycin A (9a) also exhibited excellent antiviral activity.

The synthesis and antiviral activity of 3''-N-trifluoroacetylkanamycin A derivatives (6) having higher acyl group at the N-1 position are described. On the basis of the structure-activity relationships between antiviral activity and alkyl chain length in an acyl group at the N-1 position, analogs (6f approximately I) having higher alkylcarbonyl group exhibited antiviral activity against not only HSV-I but also influenza virus. Analogs (6q approximately v) having higher alkyloxycarbonyl group showed antiviral activity against HSV-I. In addition, kanamycin A derivatives (6n, o, y, z) possessing higher alkylcarbonyl group with a functional group, higher alkylaminocarbonyl group, and higher alkylthiocarbonyl group had antiviral activity against HSV-I. The analog (6h) showed a broad antiviral spectrum against both DNA (HSV-I, HSV-II, VZV) and RNA (influenza) viruses.