Dedicated to Professor Yoshito Kishi on the occasion of his 70th birthdayNeooxazolomycin and oxazolomycin A, originally isolated from a strain of Streptomyces by Uemura and co-workers in 1985, [1] together with the seven other congeners identified to date constitute a family of structurally unique oxazole polyene lactam-lactone antibiotics. These oxazolomycins were found to exhibit wide-ranging and potent antibacterial and antiviral activities as well as in vivo antitumor activity. Their intriguing molecular architectures and biological activities make these compounds attractive targets for synthesis. [2,3] In 1990, Kende et al. disclosed the synthesis of neooxazolomycin, [4] and this superb achievement is the first and only total synthesis of any member of this family; however the stereocontrolled construction of the right-hand core has remained an unanswered challenge.Our synthetic plan for neooxazolomycin makes a disconnection at the amide linkage to give the left-hand segment 1 and right-hand segment 2 (Scheme 1). Since Kende et al. had already demonstrated an effective method for the synthesis of 1 [4] by a Reformatsky-type aldol reaction [5] and Stille coupling, [6] the major challenge in the synthesis resided in the stereoselective construction of 2. From the retrosynthetic perspective, we envisioned pyrrolidinone 4 as a precursor of 2 with considerably less structural complexity which would lead to 2 through a Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi reaction [7] and stereoselective dihydroxylation with concomitant lactonization. We postulated that this precursor could be accessed by a palladium-catalyzed cyclization of amide 5. This approach is particularly appealing since the three contiguous stereogenic centers including two quaternary centers could be created by one dihydroxylation process. The required amide 5 was synthesized in a completely stereoselective manner by taking advantage of the intramolecular hydrosilylation [8] developed by Tamao et al. [9] (Scheme 2). Thus, alkynol 8 was first prepared by the coupling of alkyne 6 [10] and triflate 7, [11] both readily available from (S)hydroxy-2-methylpropanoate, followed by desilylation. Reaction of 8 with tetramethyldisilazane provided hydrodimethylsilyl ether 9, which upon hydrosilylation with [Pt(dvds)] [12] as a catalyst in THF at room temperature followed by exposure of the resulting siloxane 10 to iodine in the presence of CsF in Scheme 1. Retrosynthetic analysis of neooxazolomycin. Bn = benzyl, Fmoc = 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl.

Vibrio cholerae is responsible for the diarrheal disease cholera that infects millions of people worldwide. While vaccines protecting against cholera exist, and oral rehydration therapy is an effective treatment method, the disease will remain a global health threat until long-term solutions such as improved sanitation and access to clean water become widely available. Because of this, there is a pressing need for potent therapeutics that can either mitigate cholera symptoms, or act prophylactically to prevent the virulent effects of a cholera infection. Here we report the design, synthesis, and characterization of a set of compounds that bind and inhibit ToxT, the transcription factor that directly regulates the two primary V. cholerae virulence factors. Using the folded structure of the monounsaturated fatty acid observed in the X-ray structure of ToxT as a template, we designed ten novel compounds that inhibit the virulence cascade to a greater degree than any known inhibitor. Our findings provide a structural and functional basis for the development of viable antivirulence therapeutics that combat cholera and, potentially, other forms of bacterial pathogenic disease.

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Beidseitig gearbeitet: Neooxazolomycin, das zu den Oxazolomycin‐Antibiotika gehört, wurde mit einem konvergenten Ansatz in der natürlich vorkommenden Form synthetisiert. Die hoch stereoselektive Strategie umfasst eine Tamao‐Hydrosilylierung, eine palladiumkatalysierte Enolatalkenylierung, eine Dihydroxylierung mit Lactonbildung und eine Nozaki‐Hiyama‐Kishi‐Reaktion für das rechte Segment sowie einen verbesserten Weg zum linken Segment.

A three-step synthesis of masked 2,3-diaminoindole 1 from 2-iodo-3-nitro-1-(phenylsulfonyl)indole (2) has been developed. Treatment of 1 with trifluoroacetic acid generates the unstable 2,3-diamino-1-(phenylsulfonyl)indole (3), which can be trapped with α-dicarbonyl compounds to afford 5H-pyrazino[2,3-b]indoles 7-10.

The synthesis of the viridin class of furanosteroids core skeleton from the readily available 2,3-dihydro-4-hydroxyinden-1-one (6) is described. Our strategy was broken down into three parts: (1) Synthesis of functionalized alkyne oxazoles of type 5; (2) intramolecular Diels-Alder/retro-Diels-Alder reaction of 5 followed by tautomerization and elaboration of R to give silylated furanonaphthols 4 bearing an aldehyde side chain; and (3) annulation of ring A by intramolecular vinylogous Mukaiyama aldol-type cyclization. Two major challenges were faced in the last step: (i) furanonaphthol derivatives bearing a β-hydroxyaldehyde functionality (R(1) = OH) suffered from dehydration to the E-enal, which is geometrically incapable of cyclization, and (ii) the functionality at C17 had a strong influence on the conversion of 4 to 3, as exemplified by the failure of the free ketone (X = O) or its derivatives (X = H, OH; X = H, OAc) to cyclize. In the end, success was realized with the analogous C17-norketone (X = H, H).

We have synthesized a novel ellipticine analogue, 7,8,9,10-tetrafluoroellipticine, in nine steps from hexafluorobenzene and ethyl cyanoacetate, via 1-(phenysulfonyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrafluoroindole. The key step is lithiation of the indole and subsequent coupling with 3,4-pyridinedicarboxylic acid anhydride to afford a ketolactam. Reaction of the lactam with methyllithium followed by reduction with sodium borohydride yields 7,8,9,10-tetrafluoroellipticine.

We have previously designed and synthesized small-molecule inhibitors that reduce Vibrio cholerae virulence in vitro by targeting the transcription factor ToxT. Here we report the synthesis and biological activity of derivatives of our previous bicyclic, fatty acid-like inhibitors. All of the synthesized derivatives show antivirulence activity in vitro. For the most potent compounds, a concentration of 5 μM completely inhibited ToxT-mediated tcpA expression as measured in the β-galactosidase assay. One indole compound, 3-(1-butyl-1 H-indol-7-yl)propanoic acid (8), was also effective at inhibiting intestinal colonization in the infant mouse. These modified compounds may serve as good candidates for further anti-cholera drug development.