Polycyclic bio-active natural products that contain halogen atoms have been isolated from a number of different marine organisms. The biosynthesis of these natural products appears to be initiated by an electrophilic halogenation reaction at a carbon-carbon double bond via a mechanism that is similar to a proton-induced olefin polycyclization. Enzymes such as haloperoxidases generate an electrophilic halonium ion (or its equivalent), which reacts with the terminal carbon-carbon double bond of the polyprenoid, enantioselectively inducing a cyclization reaction that produces a halogenated polycyclic terpenoid. Use of an enantioselective halocyclization reaction is one possible way to chemically synthesize these halogenated cyclic terpenoids; although several brominated cyclic terpenoids have been synthesized via a diastereoselective halocyclization reaction that uses stoichiometric quantities of a brominating reagent, the enantioselective halocyclization of isoprenoids induced by a chiral promoter has not yet been reported. Here we report the enantioselective halocyclization of simple polyprenoids using a nucleophilic promoter. Achiral nucleophilic phosphorus compounds are able to promote the diastereoselective halocyclization reaction to give a halogenated cyclic product in excellent yields. Moreover, chiral phosphoramidites promote the enantioselective halocyclization of simple polyprenoids with N-iodosuccinimide to give iodinated cyclic products in up to 99% enantiomeric excess and diastereomeric excess. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first successful example of the enantioselective halopolycyclization of polyprenoids.

With regard to atom economy and E-factor, catalytic condensation of carboxylic acids with equimolar amounts of alcohols is the most desirable. Although several highly active dehydration catalysts have been reported, more efficient alternatives are still strongly needed because the dehydrative esterification of tertiary alcohols, phenols, acid-sensitive alcohols, amino acids, and hardly soluble alcohols has never proceeded satisfactorily. Here we report new insights into the classical DMAP-catalyzed acylation of alcohols: surprisingly, only a 0.05-2 mol % of DMAP can efficiently promote acylation of alcohols with acid anhydrides under auxiliary base- and solvent-free conditions to give the corresponding esters in high yields. Furthermore, we achieved the recovery and reuse of commercially available polystyrene-supported DMAP without using any solvents. These serendipitous findings provide widely useful and environmentally benign esterification methods, which might be more practical and reliable than catalytic dehydrative condensation methods, in particular, for the less reactive alcohols which hardly condense with carboxylic acid directly.

More environmentally benign alternatives to current chemical processes, especially large-scale, fundamental reactions such as ester condensations, are highly desirable for many reactions. Bulky diarylammonium pentafluorobenzenesulfonates and tosylates serve as extremely active dehydration catalysts for the ester condensation reaction of carboxylic acids with equimolar amounts of sterically demanding alcohols and acid-sensitive alcohols. Typically, the esterification reaction is performed in heptane by heating at 80 degrees C in the presence of 1 mol % of the catalyst without removing water. Esterification with primary alcohols proceeds without solvents even at room temperature. Furthermore, 4-(N-mesitylamino)polystyrene resin-bound pentafluorobenzenesulfonate can be recycled more than 10 times without activity loss.

The utility of various kinds of acid salts of azole derivatives as promoters for the condensation of a nucleoside phosphoramidite and a nucleoside is investigated. Among the salts, N-(phenyl)imidazolium triflate, N-(p-acetylphenyl)imidazolium triflate, N-(methyl)benzimidazolium triflate, benzimidazolium triflate, and N-(phenyl)imidazolium perchlorate have shown extremely high reactivity in a liquid phase. These reagents serve as powerful activators of deoxyribonucleoside 3'-(allyl N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite)s or 3'-(2-cyanoethyl N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite)s employed in the preparation of deoxyribonucleotides, and 3'-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)ribonucleoside 2'-(N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite)s or 2'-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)ribonucleoside 3'-(N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite)s used for the formation of 2'-5' and 3'-5' internucleotide linkages between ribonucleosides, respectively. The azolium salt has allowed smooth and high-yield condensation of the nucleoside phosphoramidite and a 5'-O-free nucleoside, in which equimolar amounts of the reactants and the promoter are employed in the presence of powdery molecular sieves 3A in acetonitrile. It has been shown that some azolium salts serve as excellent promoters in the solid-phase synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides and oligoribonucleotides. For example, benzimidazolium triflate and N-(phenyl)imidazolium triflate can be used as effective promoters in the synthesis of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide, (5')CGACACCCAATTCTGAAAAT(3') (20mer), via a method using O-allyl/N-allyloxycarbonyl-protected deoxyribonucleoside 3'-phosphoramidites or O-(2-cyanoethyl)/N-phenoxyacetyl-protected deoxyribonucleotide 3'-phosphoramidite as building blocks, respectively, on high-cross-linked polystyrene resins. Further, N-(phenyl)imidazolium triflate is useful for the solid-phase synthesis of oligoribonucleotides, such as (5')AGCUACGUGACUACUACUUU(3') (20mer), according to an allyl/allyloxycarbonyl-protected strategy. The utility of the azolium promoter has been also demonstrated in the liquid-phase synthesis of some biologically important substances, such as cytidine-5'-monophosphono-N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-Neu5Ac) and adenylyl(2'-5')adenylyl(2'-5')adenosine (2-5A core).

A chiral copper(II) complex of 3-(2-naphthyl)-l-alanine amide successfully catalyzes the enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with propioloylpyrazole and acryloylpyrazole derivatives. The asymmetric environment created by intramolecular π-cation interaction gives the corresponding adducts in high yields with excellent enantioselectivity. This is the first successful method for the catalytic enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones with acetylene derivatives. The 1,3-dipolar cycloadducts can be stereoselectively converted to β-lactams via reductive cleavage of the N-O bond using SmI(2).

In the presence of molybdenum oxide the dehydrative cyclization of N-acylserines, N-acylthreonines, and N-acylcysteines can be carried out under Dean-Stark conditions in toluene to give oxazolines and thiazolines. The ammonium salts (NH(4))(6)Mo(7)O(24).4H(2)O and (NH(4))(2)MoO(4) have excellent catalytic activities for the dehydrative cyclization of serine and threonine derivatives, and the acetylacetonate complex MoO(2)(acac)(2) has a remarkable catalytic activity for the dehydrative cyclization of cysteine derivatives. In addition, polyaniline-supported MoO(2)(acac)(2) can easily be recovered and reused.

Chiral Lewis base-assisted Brønsted acids (Chiral LBBAs) have been designed as new organocatalysts for biomimetic enantioselective cyclization. A salt of a chiral phosphonous acid diester with FSO(3)H catalyzes the enantioselective cyclization of 2-geranylphenols to give the desired trans-fused cyclized products with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to 98:2 dr and 93% ee).

The enantioselective total synthesis of aplyronine A (1), a potent antitumor substance of marine origin, was achieved by a convergent approach. Three segments 4, 5, and 6, corresponding to the C5−C11, C21−C27, and C28−C34 portions of aplyronine A (1), were prepared using the Evans aldol reaction and the Sharpless epoxidation as key steps. The coupling reaction of 4 with iodide 7 followed by Julia olefination with sulfone 8 gave the C5−C20 segment 9, while the Julia coupling reaction between segments 5 and 6 provided the C21−C34 segment 10. Julia olefination between segments 9 and 10 and the subsequent four-carbon homologation reaction led to seco acid 83, which was converted into aplyronine A (1) by Yamaguchi lactonization followed by the introduction of two amino acids. The use of the [(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl)oxy]methyl group as a protecting group for the hydroxyl at C29 was crucial for this synthesis. The enantioselective synthesis of two natural congeners, aplyronines B (2) and C (3), was also carried out using the intermediates for the synthesis of 1, which determined the absolute stereostructures of 2 and 3 unambiguously. To study the structure−cytotoxicity relationships of aplyronines, artificial analogues of 1 were synthesized and their cytotoxicities were evaluated:  the trimethylserine moiety, two hydroxyl groups, and the side-chain portion in 1 turned out to be important in the potent cytotoxicity shown by 1. Biological studies with aplyronine A (1) showed that 1 inhibited polymerization of G-actin to F-actin and depolymerized F-actin to G-actin.