A divergent approach to benzylisoquinoline-type and oxoaporphine alkaloids via regioselective direct ring metalation of alkoxy isoquinolines

Supramolecular templating techniques have been widely used to direct the formation of porous materials with the goal of introducing permanent mesoporosity. While surfactant-directed self-assembly has been exploited for inorganic materials such as titania, silica, organosilica, and zeolites, it has rarely been applied to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and coordination polymers. Here we introduce a new family of gemini surfactant-directed zinc imidazolates, referred to as mesostructured imidazolate frameworks (MIFs), and present a detailed study on the influence of different gemini-type surfactants on the formation mechanism and structures of the resulting zinc imidazolates. The proposed formation mechanism for MIF-type materials involves co-assembly and crystallization processes that yield lamellar mesostructured imidazolate frameworks. Understanding and controlling such processes also has implications for the syntheses of microporous zinc imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials, whose formation can be suppressed in surfactant-rich solutions, whereas formation of MIF materials is favored in the presence of surfactants and triggered by the addition of halogenides. Solid-state 2D 13C1H HETCOR NMR measurements on prototypic CTAB-directed MIF-1 establish that the head group moieties of the surfactant molecules interact strongly with the zinc-imidazolate-bromide sheets. Additionally, the NMR analyses suggest that MIF-1 has a significant fraction of surfactant molecules that are interdigitated between the zinc-imidazolate-bromide sheets with an antiparallel stacking arrangement, consistent with the high thermal and chemical stability of the MIF hybrid materials

New Perspectives in the Chemistry of Marine Pyridoacridine Alkaloids

Secondary metabolites from marine organisms are a rich source of novel leads for drug development. Among these natural products, polycyclic aromatic alkaloids of the pyridoacridine type have attracted the highest attention as lead compounds for the development of novel anti-cancer and anti-infective drugs. Numerous sophisticated total syntheses of pyridoacridine alkaloids have been worked out, and many of them have also been extended to the synthesis of libraries of analogues of the alkaloids. This review summarizes the progress in the chemistry of pyridoacridine alkaloids that was made in the last one-and-a-half decades

The Gramine Route to Pyrido[4,3-b]indol-3-ones – Identification of a New Cytotoxic Lead

A novel approach to 3-oxo-γ-carbolines was worked out starting from methyl indol-2-ylacetate via a gramine derivative. After quaternization, ammonia and 4-methoxybenzylamine could be inserted giving appropriate 3-oxo-γ-carbolines. Condensation with 2-chlorobenzaldehyde under microwave irradiation gave a 4-(2-chlorobenzyl)-3-oxo-γ-carboline. N-methylation lead to a product with very promising antifungal and cytotoxic activities

A divergent approach to benzylisoquinoline-type and oxoaporphine alkaloids via regioselective direct ring metalation of alkoxy isoquinolines

Supramolecular templating techniques have been widely used to direct the formation of porous materials with the goal of introducing permanent mesoporosity. While surfactant-directed self-assembly has been exploited for inorganic materials such as titania, silica, organosilica, and zeolites, it has rarely been applied to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and coordination polymers. Here we introduce a new family of gemini surfactant-directed zinc imidazolates, referred to as mesostructured imidazolate frameworks (MIFs), and present a detailed study on the influence of different gemini-type surfactants on the formation mechanism and structures of the resulting zinc imidazolates. The proposed formation mechanism for MIF-type materials involves co-assembly and crystallization processes that yield lamellar mesostructured imidazolate frameworks. Understanding and controlling such processes also has implications for the syntheses of microporous zinc imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials, whose formation can be suppressed in surfactant-rich solutions, whereas formation of MIF materials is favored in the presence of surfactants and triggered by the addition of halogenides. Solid-state 2D 13C1H HETCOR NMR measurements on prototypic CTAB-directed MIF-1 establish that the head group moieties of the surfactant molecules interact strongly with the zinc-imidazolate-bromide sheets. Additionally, the NMR analyses suggest that MIF-1 has a significant fraction of surfactant molecules that are interdigitated between the zinc-imidazolate-bromide sheets with an antiparallel stacking arrangement, consistent with the high thermal and chemical stability of the MIF hybrid materials

Methods for Arylethylation of Amines and Heteroarenes

Compared with standard N-methylation, benzylation, and alkylation of amines and N-heterocycles, N-arylethylation is significantly more challenging. In this Review the available methods for N-arylethylation are summarized, with a special focus on efficiency, selectivity, availability of the required building blocks, and ecological aspects

New Substituted Isocoumarins and Dihydroisocoumarins and their Cytotoxic Activities

New isocoumarins were prepared in an efficient way from 2-iodobenzoic acid derivatives and hept-1-yne in a Sonogashira reaction, followed by spontaneous cyclization. Catalytic hydrogenation gave the corresponding dihydroisocoumarins. A 4-chloroisocoumarin was prepared on an alternative pathway. Some of the new compounds showed moderate cytotoxic activities against a human leukemia cell line (HL 60)

Pharmacokinetic Enhancers (Boosters)-Escort for Drugs against Degrading Enzymes and Beyond

Pharmacokinetic enhancers (boosters) are compounds used in combination with a primary therapeutic agent (drug) and are not used for their direct effects on the disease but because they enhance or restore the activity of the primary agent. Hence, in certain cases, they represent an indispensable escort for enzyme-labile drugs. Pharmacokinetic enhancers can exert their activity on different ways. In the most common case, they inhibit enzymes such as human cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver or other organs and, thereby, block or reduce undesired metabolism and inactivation of the primary drug. In this review, an overview will be given on the therapeutically most important classes of pharmacokinetic enhancers like beta-lactamase inhibitors, inhibitors of CYP (cytochrome P450) enzymes in HIV therapy and hepatitis C, boosters for fluoropyrimidine-type anticancer agents, compounds utilized for enabling therapy of Parkinson's disease with levodopa, and others. Inhibitors of efflux pumps in both pathogenic bacteria and tumor cells will be addresses shortly

Racemic total synthesis and evaluation of the biological activities of the isoquinoline–benzylisoquinoline alkaloid muraricine

The first racemic total synthesis of the isoquinoline–benzylisoquinoline alkaloid muraricine is reported herein. Pharmacological characterization identified muraricine as a moderate inhibitor of P‐glycoprotein, a crucial factor of multidrug resistance in cancer. When combined with vincristine, muraricine partly reversed the chemoresistance of vincristine‐resistant leukemia cells at a nontoxic concentration. Furthermore, no cytotoxic effects on noncancerous human cells in therapeutically relevant concentrations were observed

Traceless Isoprenylation of Aldehydes via N‐Boc‐N‐(1,1‐dimethylallyl)hydrazones

A short isoprenylation protocol starting from non‐conjugated N‐Boc‐N‐(1,1‐dimethylallyl)hydrazones was developed utilising Thomson's traceless bond construction. This type of [3,3]‐sigmatropic rearrangement is catalysed by the Brønsted acid triflimide and liberates only gaseous by‐products. The required N‐Boc‐N‐allylhydrazine precursor is available in three steps starting from a known diazene using biocatalytic aldol addition and Tebbe olefination as key steps. Allylhydrazones are prepared via condensation with appropriate aldehydes. Scope and limitations of the [3,3]‐sigmatropic rearrangements are analysed

Selectivity Profiling and Biological Activity of Novel beta-Carbolines as Potent and Selective DYRK1 Kinase Inhibitors

DYRK1A is a pleiotropic protein kinase with diverse functions in cellular regulation, including cell cycle control, neuronal differentiation, and synaptic transmission. Enhanced activity and overexpression of DYRK1A have been linked to altered brain development and function in Down syndrome and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. The beta-carboline alkaloid harmine is a high affinity inhibitor of DYRK1A but suffers from the drawback of inhibiting monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) with even higher potency. Here we characterized a series of novel harmine analogs with minimal or absent MAO-A inhibitory activity. We identified several inhibitors with submicromolar potencies for DYRK1A and selectivity for DYRK1A and DYRK1B over the related kinases DYRK2 and HIPK2. An optimized inhibitor, AnnH75, inhibited CLK1, CLK4, and haspin/GSG2 as the only off-targets in a panel of 300 protein kinases. In cellular assays, AnnH75 dose-dependently reduced the phosphorylation of three known DYRK1A substrates (SF3B1, SEPT4, and tau) without negative effects on cell viability. AnnH75 inhibited the cotranslational tyrosine autophosphorylation of DYRK1A and threonine phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate protein with similar potency. In conclusion, we have characterized an optimized beta-carboline inhibitor as a highly selective chemical probe that complies with desirable properties of drug-like molecules and is suitable to interrogate the function of DYRK1A in biological studies