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Ceramide levels are increased in blood and brain tissue of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Since the ceramide transporter protein (CERT) is the only known protein able to mediate non-vesicular transfer of ceramide between organelle membranes, the modulation of CERT function may impact on ceramide accumulation. The competitive CERT inhibitor N-(3-hydroxy-1-hydroxymethyl-3-phenylpropyl) dodecanamide (HPA-12) interferes with ceramide trafficking. To understand the role of ceramide/CERT in AD, HPA-12 can be a useful tool to modulate ceramide trafficking. Here we first report the synthesis and in vitro properties of HPA-12 radiolabeled with fluorine-18 and present preliminary in vitro and in vivo positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and biodistribution data. In vitro results demonstrated that the fluorination did not alter the biological properties of HPA-12 since the [fluorine-19]HPA-12, interferes with 5-DMB-ceramide trafficking in HeLa cells. Radiolabeled HPA-12, [fluorine-18]HPA-12, was obtained with a radiochemical yield of 90% and a specific activity of 73 MBq/μmol. PET imaging on wild-type mice showed hepatobiliary clearance and a brain uptake on the order of 0.3 standard uptake value (SUV) one hour post injection. Furthermore, the biodistribution data showed that after removal of the blood by intracardial perfusion, radioactivity was still measurable in the brain demonstrating that the [fluorine-18]HPA-12 crosses the blood brain barrier and is retained in the brain.

This paper describes the synthesis of novel N‐substituted 3‐indolylglycines (3IGs), in high yields and optical purity via three‐component Mannich reaction (3CR) of indole and free glyoxylic acid in the presence of primary and secondary aliphatic amines. By using this efficient approach, a series of racemic 3‐indolylglycines (3IGs) as well as the optically pure (S)‐3‐indolylglycine ((S)‐3IG) in multigram synthesis using (R‐1‐phenylethylamine ((R)‐α‐PEA) as chiral pool were synthetized. In parallel investigations, 3IGs were used as the starting material for the highly stereoselective synthesis of spiroindolenines bearing three controlled contiguous stereogenic centers. Despite our expectations, the N‐chloroacetyl esters of 3IGs did not provide the expected spiroindolenine derivatives but led us to the discovery of a new methodology for the preparation of 3‐indolylmaleimides (3IMs); compounds known for their broad range of important biological and fluorescence activities.

A practical synthetic strategy for the preparation of enantiomerically pure 3‐substituted pyroglutamic acid derivatives is described. This procedure pivots on fast 5‐exo‐tet cyclization of the chloroacetylated amino acids, prepared by the crystallization induced diastereomeric transformations (CIDT). Furthermore, oxidation of obtained 3‐substituted pyroglutamic acids afforded highly valuable scaffolds with a quaternary stereogenic center with excellent diastereoselectivity. The absolute stereochemical configuration of both, 3‐aroyl pyroglutamic acid and its 3‐hydroxylated derivative, was confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray analysis. The versatility of the methodology is exemplified using a variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic amino acids. The efficiency of this chromatography‐free approach predestines it for the gram‐scale synthesis. This was demonstrated with the synthesis of more than 10 mmol of the model substrate with excellent overall yield and diastereoselectivity.

Herein we disclose an efficient and experimentally straightforward method for the stereoselective synthesis of a variety of α‐substituted Mannich salts. This direct three‐component Mannich reaction operates on readily available reagents in almost stoichiometric ratio and enables the preparation of both enantiomers. Crystallization controlled epimerization allows isolation of the target compounds in high enantio‐ and diastereomeric purities by a simple filtration. The efficiency of this chromatography‐free approach predestines it for the gram‐scale synthesis and industrial applications.

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