A stereocontrolled first total synthesis of muraymycin D1 (1) has been achieved. The synthetic route is highly stereoselective, featuring 1) selective β-ribosylation of the C2-methylated amino ribose, 2) selective Strecker reaction, 3) ring-opening reaction of a diastereomeric mixture of a diaminolactone to synthesize muraymycidine (epi-capreomycidine). The acid-cleavable protecting groups for secondary alcohol and uridine ureido nitrogen are applied for simultaneous deprotections with the Boc and tBu groups. Muraymycin D1 (1) and its amide derivatives (2 and 3) exhibited growth inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MIC50 1.56–6.25 μg/mL) and strong enzyme inhibitory activities against the bacterial phosphotransferases (MurX and WecA) (IC50 0.096−0.69 μM).

Oxyma and an oxyma derivative, (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl 2-cyano-2-(hydroxyimino)acetate (5b), displayed remarkable effect on selective esterifications of primary alcohols. A wide range of carboxylic acids could be esterified with primary alcohols by using EDCI, NaHCO3, and Oxyma or an Oxyma derivative 5b in 5% H2O-CH3CN. An Oxyma derivative 5b is particularly useful since it could be removed after the reaction via a simple basic or an acidic aqueous work-up procedure.

Capuramycin and its congeners have been considered important lead molecules for the development of a new drug for multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. Extensive structure-activity relationship studies of capuramycin to improve the efficacy have been limited due to difficulty in selective chemical modifications of the desired position(s) of the natural product with biologically interesting functional groups. We have developed efficient syntheses of capuramycin and its analogs using new protecting groups, which are derived from the chiral (chloro-4-methoxyphenyl) (chlorophenyl) methanols, for the uridine ureido nitrogen and primary alcohol. The chiral non-racemic (2,6-dichloro-4-methoxyphenyl) (2,4-dichlorophenyl) methanol derivative is a useful reagent to resolve rac-3-amino-1,3-dihydro-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one, whose (S)-configuration isomer plays a significant role in improving the mycobactericidal activity of capuramycin.

One of the key constituents of the muraymycins is the 6-membered cyclic guanidine, (2S,3S)-muraymycidine (or epi-capreomycidine). In order to diversify the structure of the oligo-peptide moiety of the muraymycins for thorough structure activity relationship studies, we have developed a highly stereoselective synthesis of ureido-muraymycidine derivatives with the lactone 4a.

The benzyloxymethyl (BOM) group has been utilized widely in syntheses of a variety of natural and non-natural products. The BOM group is also one of few choices to protect uridine ureido nitrongen. However, hydrogenolytic cleavage of the BOM group of uridine derivatives has been unrealizably performed via heterogeneous conditions using Pd catalysts. One of the undesirable by-products formed by Pd-mediated hydrogenation conditions is the over-reduced product of which the C5–C6 double bond of the uracil moiety was saturated. To date, we have generated a wide range of uridine-containing antibacterial agents, where the BOM group has been utilized in their syntheses. In screening of deprotection conditions of the BOM group of uridine ureido nitrogen under Pd-mediated hydrogenation conditions, we realized that the addition of water to the iPrOH-based hydrogenation conditions can suppress the formation of over-reduced uridine derivatives and the addition of HCO2H (0.5%) dramatically improve the reaction rate. An optimized hydrogenation condition described here can be applicable to the BOM-deprotections of a wide range of uridine derivatives.

We have realized that N-formylations of free amines of some drug leads can improve PK/PD property of parent molecules without decreasing their biological activities. In order to selectively formylate primary amines of polyfunctional molecules, we have sought a mild and convenient formylation reaction. In our screening of N-formylation of an α-amino acid, L-phenylalanine, none of formylation conditions reported to date yielded the desired HCO-L-Phe-OH with satisfactory yield. N-Formylations of amino acids with HCO2H require the reactions in a water-containing media and suppress polymerization reactions due to the competitive reactions among carboxylic acids. We found that N-formylations of α-amino acids could be achieved with a water-soluble peptide coupling additive, an oxyma derivative, (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl-2-cyano-2-(hydroxyimino)acetate (2), EDCI, and NaHCO3 in water or a mixture of water and DMF system, yielding N-formylated α-amino acids with excellent yields. Moreover, these conditions could selectively formylate primary amines over secondary amines at a controlled temperature. A usefulness of these conditions was demonstrated by selective formylation of daptomycin antibiotic which contains three different amino groups.

The reaction proceeds exclusively with primary alcohols and phenols in the presence of Oxyma and its derivative GAOX.

Mild and Convenient N-Formylation Protocol in Water-Containing Solvents. -A new protocol is developed for the N-formylation of amines and amino acids with formic acid in the presence of water-soluble peptide coupling additives. Primary amines can be selectively formylated over secondary ones. -(ALEIWI, B. A.; MITACHI, K.; KUROSU*, M.; Tetrahedron Lett. 54 (2013) 16, 2077-2081, http://dx.