To optimize drug candidates, modern medicinal chemists are increasingly turning to an unconventional structural motif: small, strained ring systems. However, the difficulty of introducing substituents such as bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes, azetidines, or cyclobutanes often outweighs the challenge of synthesizing the parent scaffold itself. Thus, there is an urgent need for general methods to rapidly and directly append such groups onto core scaffolds. Here we report a general strategy to harness the embedded potential energy of effectively spring-loaded C–C and C–N bonds with the most oft-encountered nucleophiles in pharmaceutical chemistry, amines. Strain release amination can diversify a range of substrates with a multitude of desirable bioisosteres at both the early and late-stages of a synthesis. The technique has also been applied to peptide labeling and bioconjugation.

Carbon–carbon (C–C) bonds form the backbone of many important molecules, including polymers, dyes, and pharmaceutical agents. The development of new methods to create these essential connections in a rapid and practical fashion has been the focus of numerous organic chemists. This endeavor heavily relies on the ability to form C–C bonds in the presence of sensitive functional groups and congested structural environments. Here we report a fundamentally new chemical transformation that allows for the facile construction of highly substituted and uniquely functionalized C–C bonds. Using a simple iron catalyst, an inexpensive silane, and a benign solvent under an ambient atmosphere, heteroatom-substituted olefins are easily merged with electron-deficient olefins to create molecular architectures that were previously difficult or impossible to access. More than sixty examples are presented with a wide array of substrates, demonstrating the unique chemoselectivity and mildness of this simple reaction.

Driven by the ever-increasing pace of drug discovery and the need to push the boundaries of unexplored chemical space, medicinal chemists are routinely turning to unusual strained bioisosteres such as bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane, azetidine, and cyclobutane to modify their lead compounds. Too often, however, the difficulty of installing these fragments surpasses the challenges posed even by the construction of the parent drug scaffold. This full account describes the development and application of a general strategy where spring-loaded, strained C–C and C–N bonds react with amines to allow for the “any-stage” installation of small, strained ring systems. In addition to the functionalization of small building blocks and late-stage intermediates, the methodology has been applied to bioconjugation and peptide labeling. For the first time, the stereospecific strain-release “cyclopentylation” of amines, alcohols, thiols, carboxylic acids, and other heteroatoms is introduced. This report describes the development, synthesis, scope of reaction, bioconjugation, and synthetic comparisons of four new chiral “cyclopentylation” reagents.

Unlike its other halogen atom siblings, the utility of chlorinated arenes and (hetero)arenes are twofold: they are useful in tuning electronic structure as well as acting as points for diversification via cross-coupling. Herein we report the invention of a new guanidine-based chlorinating reagent, CBMG or “Palau’chlor”, inspired by a key chlorospirocyclization en route to pyrrole imidazole alkaloids. This direct, mild, operationally simple, and safe chlorinating method is compatible with a range of nitrogen-containing heterocycles as well as select classes of arenes, conjugated π-systems, sulfonamides, and silyl enol ethers. Comparisons with other known chlorinating reagents revealed CBMG to be the premier reagent.

A practical C–H functionalization method for the methylation of heteroarenes is presented. Inspiration from Nature’s methylating agent, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), allowed for the design and development of zinc bis(phenylsulfonylmethanesulfinate), or PSMS. The action of PSMS on a heteroarene generates a (phenylsulfonyl)methylated intermediate that can be easily separated from unreacted starting material. This intermediate can then be desulfonylated to the methylated product or elaborated to a deuteriomethylated product, and can divergently access medicinally important motifs. This mild, operationally simple protocol that can be conducted in open air at room temperature is compatible with sensitive functional groups for the late-stage functionalization of pharmacologically relevant substrates.

A general C–H functionalization method for the tagging of natural products and pharmaceuticals is described. An azide-containing sulfinate reagent allows the appendage of azidoalkyl chains onto heteroaromatics, the product of which can then be attached to a monoclonal antibody by a “click” reaction. This strategy expands the breadth of bioactive small molecules that can be linked to macromolecules in a manner that is beyond the scope of existing methods in bioconjugation to permit tagging of the “seemingly untaggable.”

Utilizing the structure-activity relationship we have developed during the synthesis of the first two generations and mechanism of action studies that point to the interaction of these molecules with the key oncogenic protein Hsp90, we report here the design of 32 new Sansalvamide A derivatives and their synthesis. Our new structures, designed from previously reported potent compounds, were tested for cytotoxicity on the HCT116 colon cancer cell line, and their binding to the biological target was analyzed using computational studies involving blind docking of derivatives using Autodock. Further, we show new evidence that our molecules bind directly to Hsp90 and modulate Hsp90's binding with client proteins. Finally, we demonstrate that we have integrated good ADME properties into a new derivative.

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