Revolutionizing resin handling for combinatorial synthesis

Without the stereodirecting ability of 2-substituents, strategies to prepare 2-deoxyglycosides selectively in high alpha- or beta-anomeric forms rely heavily on indirect sequences from glycals or latent 2-deoxysugars. As such, these require a subsequent reductive step that would be unsuitable for many complex natural products and for any viable total synthesis program. A case in point is that of the kedarcidin chromophore and its alpha-linked 2,6-dideoxysugars, L-mycarose and L-kedarosamine. In particular, direct and efficient alpha-selective methods for allo-configured systems are especially difficult to realise. Herein we describe a direct, potent, and mild protocol to efficiently generate alpha-L-mycarosides from thioglycosides by using AgPF6, which is exemplified by the alpha-mycosylation of an advanced kedarcidin substructure. Although the present method is applicable to other 2-deoxy systems, such as the synthesis of alpha-L-kedarosaminides, normal 2-oxythioglycosides remain inert to AgPF6 and can be used as acceptors armed with strategic anomeric linkages

Intramolecular DNA coiling mediated by metallo-supramolecular cylinders: Differential binding of P and M helical enantiomers

We have designed a synthetic tetracationic metallo-supramolecular cylinder that targets the major groove of DNA with a binding constant in excess of 10(7) M(−1) and induces DNA bending and intramolecular coiling. The two enantiomers of the helical molecule bind differently to DNA and have different structural effects. We report the characterization of the interactions by a range of biophysical techniques. The M helical cylinder binds to the major groove and induces dramatic intramolecular coiling. The DNA bending is less dramatic for the P enantiomer