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Sorbitol formation from glucose, catalyzed by the enzyme aldose reductase, is believed to play a role in the development of certain chronic complications of diabetes mellitus. Spiro hydantoins derived from five- and six-membered ketones fused to an aromatic ring or ring system inhibit aldose reductase isolated from calf lens. In vivo these compounds are potent inhibitors of sorbitol formation in sciatic nerves of streptozotocinized rats. Optimum in vivo activity is reached in spiro hydantoins derived from 6-halogenated 2,3-dihydro-4H-1-benzopyran-4-ones (4-chromanones). In 2,4-dihydro-6-fluorospiro[4H-1-benzopyran-4,4'-imidazolidine]-2',5 '-dione, the activity resides exclusively in the 4S isomer, compound 115 (CP-45,634, USAN: sorbinil). This compound is currently being used to test, in humans, the value of aldose reductase inhibitors in the therapy of diabetic complications.

A new tool for analyzing compound libraries by NMR has been developed. Aliquots of solution-state samples (between 120 and 350 microL) are directly injected, using a standard liquids handler, into an NMR (LC-NMR) flow probe. Automated NMR software tracks--and suppresses--intense signals arising from the nondeuterated solvents used (if any) and acquires high-sensitivity one-dimensional 1H NMR spectra. An 88-member combinatorial library, dissolved in DMSO and stored in a 96-well microtiter plate, has been analyzed a number of ways using this technique. This nondestructive technique, which we call direct-injection NMR (DI-NMR) and which is embodied in our versatile automated sample changer (VAST) hardware, has proven to be both routine and robust. Our success in automatically acquiring the NMR data for entire plates of library compounds (within 4-8 h) has caused us to develop new ways to display and analyze the resulting NMR data, as will be shown here.

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The oxidative coupling of carboxylic acid dianion derivatives provides the key intermediates needed for efficient syntheses of the symmetrical lignan hinokinin (9) and the unsymmetrical fungal metabolite fomentarle acid (22). Racemic hinokinin (9), a target chosen to test the facility of dianion oxidative coupling in the presence of electron-rich aromatic rings, is prepared in an overall conversion of 61% from 3,4-(methylenedioxy)hydrocinnamic acid. Racemic fomentarle acid (22), a trisubstituted succinic acid derivative, results from a straightforward two-step sequence

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